Safe House Sequel: One-Shots
by GhostWriter62
Summary: A collection of one-shots as a sequel to Safe House.
1. Just Like Charlie

To get up or not to get up? That was the question. The bed was soft and warm, but Jessie had already been awake for half an hour, and she was getting a bit restless having to stay upstairs.

Mike had told her yesterday evening to stay up in her bedroom until someone came to get her... he said something about going out very late to celebrate taking down a case and wanting to sleep in.

But she figured the sun had been up for long enough. Somebody had to be awake in Graceland...

The door to the phone room was propped open, which meant no one was inside. She tiptoed down to the agents' floor and could see from the stairs that Paige's door was shut as well.

Jessie hesitated to peer around the corner, but she took a few more steps down and looked quickly over to Mike's room. She didn't think Mike would get angry if he saw her, but she was supposed to be letting everyone sleep. She was a bit disappointed to see that his door was shut too. If Mike was still sleeping in, there was no way anyone else was up either. In Jessie's mind, Mike woke up earlier than the sun.

Johnny's door was cracked open though. Somebody's always was.

Just in case she needed someone in the middle of the night, the agents rotated through leaving their door cracked open. Jessie knew that if she had a nightmare and wanted someone's help, she was supposed to go to the room with the open door. Jakes would say that he was "on call" when it was his turn, but running down to the agents in the middle of the night happened less frequently as her time at Graceland continued.

Jessie tiptoed past Jakes' room and leaned slightly into Johnny's door, trying to see if he was still asleep. She didn't even need to look; she could hear the snoring.

She smiled when she saw how much of a mess his room was, and she had to cover her mouth to stop herself from giggling when she realized that he was still wearing the clothes he had on when he left the house in last night. His feet were sticking out from under the covers, one still sported a dress shoe and the other just had a sock with a giant hole in the bottom.

She walked around to the side of the bed, put her elbows on the mattress and rested her chin in her hands. "Johnny," she whispered.

She pressed her elbows down to make the bed shake a little bit. The snoring halted and she held her breath as he mumbled something and flipped his head to look the other way.

"Joohhnnnyyyy," she tried again. "Wanna go surf, please?"

There was a moment of silence, but she knew he heard her. She pushed into the bed one more time.

"Hungover..." he mumbled.

"Wanna go? I'll paddle and everything."

"Noooo," he groaned into the pillow. "Go away..."

He felt a bit guilty for shutting her down. He picked his head up slightly. "Go wake up Briggs."

"No way..." she said playfully. "Even I know better than that!"

He turned his head towards her but kept his eyes squinted. "Just... just go downstairs. Watch tv or something." His voice was hoarse and groggy.

"But you're the only one up," she said matter-of-factly.

"I'm not up either," he said while throwing the blankets over his head.

"Yes, you-"

"Go."

At least she had gotten permission. She walked back over to the staircase, checking out Jakes, Briggs, and Charlie's doors in the process. Charlie's door was left open, but before Jessie got a chance to look inside, she heard Charlie's voice from downstairs.

Jessie got to the bottom of the staircase and she could tell that Charlie was on the phone with somebody important. Without Charlie seeing her, she jumped into the corner of the big couch in the living room and reached over for a book that she had left on the coffee table. She was the only one in her class who had been sent home with a chapter book to read over the weekend, and she was quite proud to leave it out for the others to see.

Charlie started to get louder, and Jessie dropped the book to listen in on the conversation.

"...And that's why you need to keep me on this case," Jessie heard her say. "Sir, nobody else has the record that I have with these- yes, sir. Yes, I know about that but- but that's why I still think a woman would be better for this case. You need a-. Yes, sir. Yes, I understand.- Gimme a week. Just one week and I'll show you that-."

Jessie was happy for Charlie when she saw the woman smile. Charlie never lost an argument.

"Well, you know what I always say sir, excuse my language but... bitches get shit done."

Jessie couldn't help but laugh at the words she heard from Charlie's side of the phone conversation. Charlie must have heard her because she looked out from behind the fireplace and spotted the little girl curled into the corner of the couch. She gave a small wave at Jessie before hanging up the phone.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Charlie said softly.

"Did you win?" Jessie said, sitting up a bit more.

"Of course," Charlie said confidently. She walked into the living room with a mug of coffee and sat on the couch; Jessie immediately snuggled into her.

It didn't take too long for the house to come alive.

Johnny had made his way downstairs to them on the couch (via the kitchen to grab a bottle of aspirin and a large travel mug full of coffee).

"When my headache goes away, we'll go, k?" Johnny kicked his legs up onto the coffee table and squinted in pain as he laid his head back.

Jessie could tell he was trying to make up for kicking her out earlier that morning. She nodded at him and kept her distance to let him recover.

"What time did you get back, John boy?" Briggs tossed a bottle of gatorade at him on the couch.

"Don't-" The bottle hit his chest and made Johnny hiss in pain.

He snapped his head to the side when he heard Jessie laughing though.

"Hey, don't you laugh at me, kid. I don't know Briggs... like 3? 4?"

"He fell asleep and forgot to take off his other shoe!" Jessie told them excitedly.

"Oh yeah?" Briggs asked her smiling. He looked into the kitchen and around the living room. "Paige up yet? She's got that reverse today, right?"

Before Charlie could respond, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Jessie knew who it was and jumped off the couch, knocking into an aggravated Johnny in the process. She met Paige at the bottom of the steps and held out her arms to be picked up and held.

Paige looked over to the couch and laughed. "You can't handle your alcohol Johnny, can you?"

"Had more shots than you, P."

"No, no way," she said. Paige moved into the kitchen with Jessie on her hip. "I kept up just fine with that boys club and you don't see me in pain on the couch wearing last night's clothes."

"Rematch. Next week," Johnny said.

"No," Charlie said shaking her head. "Now that you're freed up I need your help with my case."

"What case?" Paige asked.

"He's letting you stay on?" Briggs asked.

Paige came into the living room with coffee, still holding Jessie.

Jessie nodded at Briggs as if she was equally a part of the conversation.

"That's great, Charlie," Paige said. "Has anyone seen Mike yet?"

"...did you check your room?" Johnny asked sarcastically, sipping on the gatorade.

"He was gone when I woke-"

The front door slammed open, cutting Paige off. Mike appeared with his backpack in the foyer.

"Where did you go?" Paige asked him.

"Just around," he said vaguely.

"Everything's good?" Briggs asked.

"Peachy," he said.

Jessie wiggled off of Paige's hip to go run over to him. She hugged Mike's legs and leaned her head up against him when she felt his hand run through her hair.

"Are you hungover too?" Jessie questioned him innocently.

"Where did you learn that word?" Mike asked her, looking quizzically at the others.

"Not me!" Charlie said, putting up her hands to show she wasn't involved.

Without saying a word, Johnny just raised his hand high into the air. "I didn't know it was her when I said it. She's not an idiot Mike. She knows I'm hammered."

Mike walked into the living room with Jessie still holding onto his leg. He looked down at her and ran his hand through her hair once more. "No. I don't get hung over."

Paige immediately spun around to face him. "That's not true!" she yelled back laughing.

"Loud, P. Too loud," Johnny said.

"Suck it up, Johhny," Charlie said. "You helping out with this reverse today, Paul?"

"Nahh, I think I'm just going to go surfing and take it easy for a while."

"I'm in!" Jessie said eagerly.

"What's with you guys?" Charlie asked, looking between Mike, Briggs and Johnny. "You're all out of commission for the day because you won one case? Where's this macho motivation you're always rambling on about?"

"I'm motivated," Mike said retaliating. "I just don't want to rush into anything too major right now."

"Charlie won back the lead position on her case," Paige said, "I'm running a solo reverse today apparently... and held all my liquor-"

"And I finished all my homework for tomorrow already," Jessie added, backing up Paige.

"That's my girl," Charlie said. "Just like me."

"See? The women of Graceland are just better agents..." Charlie said comically. She looked over to Briggs. "And what do I always say?"

"Bitches get shit done!" Jessie yelled proudly.

Mike held his breath. Jessie knew she had done something wrong just because of the silence that filled the room.

Within a few seconds though, Charlie burst into laughter. "I did say that this morning on the phone, didn't I?"

Jessie nodded confidently. "You told him on the phone that b-"

"Ok!" Mike said, cutting Jessie off. "Go get dressed and we'll head out for some food."

Jessie passed by Johnny on her way over to the stairs, and with his head back and eyes still shut, he held out his arm with his hand in a fist.

"Don't lose the spunk, kiddo," he said with a laugh. Jessie fist-bumped him, looked back at Paige, who gave her an encouraging nod about what she had done, and then ran up the steps to her room.

"Yep, Chuck," Briggs said laughing. "She's just like you."


	2. Open House: Part 1

"We move out in ten minutes, people! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

Mike was shouting commands from the kitchen. He was holding some eclectic items: a bag of fruit, sunglasses that Jessie knew Mike would never actually wear, and a funny hat that had stripes on it. Mike was dressed silly too, wearing a green jacket. Jessie figured Paige must have picked out his clothes again…

The little girl sat in the center of the living room, reclining back in one of the oversized chairs, holding a backpack and just watching the scene unfold. When Mike had yelled, "We move out," she knew it included her.

Jessie wasn't quite sure what was going to happen, but she knew that it was important. After she had finished her dinner, Mike had plopped her down on that chair in the living room with her bag, and so that's where she stayed as chaos ensued around her.

Johnny and Charlie came running down the stairs, also dressed pretty funny, and Paige was helping Briggs with the special transmitters and some wires on the coffee table. Jessie could hear Jakes moving cars around outside and had watched him carry bags out from the foyer into the trunks.

Jessie looked back over to Mike, who was now walking over to her. She giggled a bit at his appearance. "You don't like these clothes?" he asked smiling. She shook her head and reached out, feeling the material of the jacket. He took her hand in his and pulled her up out of the chair to stand in front of him.

"Who do you ride with?" he asked her. He squatted down to her level and helped her put the backpack on properly.

"Charlie," Jessie responded confidently.

"And where is she taking you?"

"To the neighbor lady's house."

"—Ms. Miller…"

"To Ms. Miller's house," Jessie repeated with a monotone voice. "…and Charlie is my Aunt Charlie...and Charlie – I mean, Aunt Charlie is going to a funeral. So that's why I'm staying there."

Mike leaned in to kiss the top of her head. Briggs put a transmitter watch down on the table next to Mike and nodded at Jessie. "You ready, kid?" he asked.

"What time are you getting me?" Jessie asked him, reaching out to touch the hat Mike was holding.

"It'll be me or Jakes… really late," Mike said softly.

"Blindfold!" Johnny yelled over to her. Jessie knew what that meant. She shut her eyes tight and put her hands over her face. Mike watched as Johnny reloaded three guns and put them into various carriers. "K!" Johnny yelled. Jessie opened her eyes once more, but her attention drifted to the papers and flyers hanging by the chore wheel. Her eyes then peered over at the large clock on the wall.

"Umm-" Jessie mumbled softly. She looked down to the floor.

Mike reached out and tilted her chin up to make eye-contact. "What is it?"

Jessie didn't respond.

"Nothing bad is going to happen," Mike reassured her, "It's all worked out…"

Jakes walked back into the foyer and let the door shut behind him. Mike waved him over to where he was speaking with Jessie.

"What time does really late mean?" Jessie asked the men.

"You'll probably be asleep, kiddo," Jakes said. "After I finish the last drop off I'll come get you, but I might wake you up when I put you in the car."

"You can fall sleep at her house while you're there," Mike said. "It's safe."

"Oh," Jessie said. The agents couldn't help but notice a sense of disappointment.

Paige had picked her head up while Jakes was talking and was now paying attention to Jessie's hesitance as well.

"Jessie, I'm sorry to say it like this," Paige kept her tone as patient as she could, "but we really have to go, sweetheart. What's bothering you? What's making you nervous?"

Charlie, Johnny and Briggs all looked over to Mike, Jessie, and Jakes.

The little girl had the attention of the room. It was a bit intimidating to be speaking to all six of her housemates.

She took a breath and looked down at her feet. "It's just—" She paused.

Mike sighed and scooped her up in his arms; Jessie instinctively laid her head on his chest.

"It's just what?" he whispered.

"It's tonight," Jessie said clearly.

"What's tonight?" Charlie asked.

"A-at sch-school."

"Oh, shit," Johnny said, his roommates snapping their heads in his direction. He started pacing in front of the coffee table.

"Oh, girl… you gave me that flyer and everything too… Oh, man I'm so sorry I forgot."

"What is it? What's at school? Why don't I know about this?" Paige asked, handing Mike his transmitting watch and then taking Jessie from him.

"Open house," Jessie told them, now snuggling into Paige. "You get to come sit at my desk and see my teacher and my work and my cubby."

"We'll go another day, ok?" Johnny said, trying to save the moment. "All seven of us."

"Speak for yourself, Johnny," Briggs interjected. "That place is a germ-fest."

Paige looked to Mike and cocked her head to the side, "Don't you think someone else can run command from the truck after you finish your cover job? Why don't you just go with her? We've been over this take-down a million times, and I know you want to be there with the team, but—"

"You can come?!" Jessie asked excitedly.

She flipped her head to make eye-contact with Mike, hoping he would agree with Paige's idea.

He took a breath. "What time does this thing start?"

"At 7," Jessie said, "but it's not just a 'thing'."

"We know, baby girl," Charlie said. "It's a special night."

"We're leaving at 5. If we can be set up and done with the first piece of this op by 6, I can swing back early and grab her... and change," Mike said. "We can do the school thing and then I'll drop her back with the sitter and meet you at the van."

Paige smiled, leaned in and kissed him.

"OK!" Briggs yelled, refocusing the attention of the room, "We need to be out the door in two minutes!"

Mike knew he had made the right decision when he saw the smile grow across Jessie's face. The agents were scrambling, grabbing bags, phones, props, costumes and paperwork to bring with them.

"Wait," Mike said. "So I'm going to this thing by myself?"

"And me," Jessie said. "And it's not a thing... and you get to see my cubby!" she repeated.

"Hey Mikey," Jakes said, "one detail… How are you getting there? We drop you at the van after your part of the op without you having your own car."

Paige just smirked at him. "Well Jakes, Mike's your last drop-off until Charlie's pick-up around midnight, right?"

"I see where this is headed in that mind of yours," Jakes said, shaking his head back and forth. "I don't like this, Paige."

Paige just kept smiling and put Jessie down next to her. "Oh, you're both going. And I want details, boys. Details."


	3. Open House: Part 2

Jessie sat by the front door of the lady's house, which turns out was just down the street from Graceland. Charlie had explained to her how she knew the woman, but Jessie didn't remember. She just sat on the bench in the small foyer, swinging her legs, and keeping her eyes on the driveway in anticipation of Jakes' car.

When the headlights turned into the driveway, Jessie popped up onto her feet and peered back into the hallway to wait for the lady to realize that Mike and Jakes were here.

The doorbell rang as Ms. Miller made it to the entranceway. "Your uncle is here, sweetheart."

Jessie smiled at her and stood in front of the woman to peek her head through the door as it opened.

"Uncle Mike!" she yelled, jumping up to him. Mike laughed at her remark.

"You ready to go?" he asked her, already knowing the answer. She nodded and turned back to look at the car, a bit confused as to why she couldn't see Jakes. "We'll be back around nine, ma'am," Mikes said.

"Yes, that's what Catherine had said," she replied.

"Ok, well, thanks again." Mike turned around and carried Jessie to the car.

When Jessie heard the front door of the house shut, she looked up to him with a puzzled face. "Who's Catherine, Mikey?"

"Charlie," Mike said laughing. "And that's 'uncle' Mike to you."

"Sorry," Jessie said softly, "but that's what she called you so I thought…"

"That was great," he said, opening the car door.

"Where's Jakes?"

"Waiting around the corner," Mike said, getting into the driver's seat. "I didn't want to have to explain, so we're going to get him now. You buckled?" He looked in the rearview mirror and saw her nodding, a huge smile on her face.

Sure enough, Mike drove a few houses down to the corner and pulled over to the side. Jessie watched as Mike got out of the driver's seat and moved around to the passenger's side. Jakes slid in and adjusted the mirrors, glancing behind him and winking at Jessie. "Ready, kid? I haven't been to a school in a looooong time."

The ride to the elementary school was fairly quiet. Jessie knew that Jakes and Mike were talking mostly in code about what had happened with work so far that night.

When they arrived at the parking lot though, Jessie picked her head up and sat tall, looking at how crowded it was. Jakes drove slowly, scanning for a parking space. "So, uh, what's our play here Mike?" he asked, pulling into a spot.

Mike looked around at all of the parents walking across the lot and into the school. Every kid was accompanied by a man and a woman, all of whom seemed to be dressed in business clothes. Without saying a word, Jakes and Mike both turned around in their seats to look back at Jessie.

"So…" Mike started, unsure of what to say. "Who… What do you tell… Tell the kids about…" he kept stopping himself. "Am I your…"

"You're Mike," Jessie said.

"Just Mike?"

"Just Mike," Jessie repeated, now unbuckling her seatbelt.

"We'll figure it out inside," Jakes said. "Let's just do this thing."

When they got to the front steps of the school, Jessie moved between the men and took their hands, leading them up to the door. "This is the lobby, and this is the office, and that's the security lady's desk, and that's the honor board, and that's the—"

"Ok!" Jakes said, stopping her.

"But you said you haven't been to a school."

Jakes laughed. "I know what a building looks like." Jessie squeezed his hand and made a funny face up at him.

Mike stopped to look at the board with the honor roll. "Are you up here?"

Jessie shook her head. "No… you have to be a second grader."

"So when you're kicking butt as a second grader you'll be up there?" Jakes asked.

"Mhmmm," Jessie said. "And I get a medal like Paige."

"And a medal like Mike…" Mike added confidently.

"What did you do?" Jessie asked bluntly.

Mike laughed at her. "I helped take down a major bad guy and was first in my class."

Jessie shrugged her shoulders. "Me too. What else you got?"

"Alright, enough. Stop learning the sass from Paige and Chuck," Jakes said. "Which room is it?"

The hallways were crowded, but Jessie pulled them along down and stopped a few doors down on the right. "107," she said, "with the blue door."

Mike and Jakes both took a breath when they walked into the classroom.

"Hi, Jessie!" A little girl with blond hair ran up to her and waved. "This is my mom!" the girl said. "Is that your daddy?"

Jessie waved shyly and looked up behind her. "That's my- my Mike," Jessie said, "and that's my Jakes."

The little girl's mom smiled and reached out to shake their hands. "Julie talks about Jessie constantly. We should set up a play-date sometime."

"Ummm, yeah," Mike said, wondering why he's never asked Jessie about any of her friends before, "we're so glad she's come out of her shell here."

The mom leaned in a bit and mouthed the question "Foster parents?" to Mike and Jakes.

"Something like that," Jakes said. He looked down at Jessie and wanted to change the subject. "So where is this cubby I keep hearing about?"

Jessie smiled up at him, "C'mon, guys!" she said pulling them over to the back wall.

"This is my cubby!"

"I can see that," Mike said, pointing to the giant nametag across the top of the shelf.

It was decorated with drawings and had some small items in it.

Jessie reached towards the back of the cubby and grabbed a rectangular piece of paper that had a circle drawn in the center. "This is my phone watch," she explained. "So I can tell you stuff when I'm at school."

"And this is for winning cases". Jessie pulled out a marble notebook; Jakes took it from her and looked at the cover. It said "Case Notes" where the subject should have been written. He flashed it over to Mike so that he could see.

"Do you solve a lot of cases?" Jakes asked her.

"Still working on it…" Jessie said, more seriously than Jakes was expecting.

Mike grabbed it from him and flipped open the cover. "No!" Jessie yelped, taking it back from him. "It's con-di-fential."

"You mean it's confidential," Mike corrected.

"Yep. Exactly," Jessie said eyeing him. She took the notebook from him and put it back in the cubby.

"And who is this, Miss Jessie?"

The three of them turned around to see who Mike and Jakes assumed was the teacher. Mike had met her briefly at the beginning of the school year when they explained the custody situation to the school district.

"Are they some of your friends from your house?"

Mike was relieved that the woman answered the question for the kid. He watched Jessie nod and felt her grab his hand once more.

"This is Mike," Jessie told her, "and that's Jakes."

Jakes reached out and shook the woman's hand. "I'm sure she's all trouble..." Jakes said smiling.

"Well, I don't know about that," she said, "but, Jessie, have you shown them the Family Wall?"

Mike and Jakes didn't know what the woman was referring to, but Jessie gasped and pulled Mike over to the far wall on the other side of the classroom, with Jakes following close behind. There was a group of parents standing around the board, but Jessie directed them right to the center of the group.

The bulletin board was covered in drawings each of the kids had done. Mostly they were stick figures standing in front of a house. Most of the pictures had three or four stick figures with a sentence underneath describing the drawing, but Mike and Jakes didn't need to read the names to know which one was Jessie's.

Her work read, "I love my family because they keep me safe and help me be smart." Mike took out his phone and took a picture of it to show the others later. Jakes messed up Jessie's hair and was about to say something when another one of the pictures caught his eye.

"Mike," he said, pointing to a picture in the corner of the board. There was a boy and a man in the drawing standing in front of a small house. "Check out the name," Jakes said. It read: Bobby Quattrodiano Jr. Mike and Jakes exchanged a glance. "Not the most common name in the world..." Mike mumbled.

Jakes picked Jessie up, took a few steps away from the group of parents, and spoke quietly to her. "Hey, do you have a Bobby in your class?"

He watched Jessie nod. Her eyes got big.

"Do you play with him? Is he a good boy?" Jakes asked her.

She laid her head on Jakes chest and shrugged her shoulders.

"Is he here now?" Mike asked her. Jessie nodded slowly and looked over to a boy who sitting on a bean bag chair in the corner, making two trucks crash into each other repeatedly. Jakes realized she also looked back over at her cubby.

"Should we go talk with him?" Mike asked, gauging a reaction.

Jessie shook her head quickly. "He's not nice..." she explained.

Mike was about to ask her more but his phone started buzzing.

Jessie yawned and shut her eyes for a moment.

"You ready to go kid?" Jakes asked her. He eyed Mike's body language while he was on the cell phone. He put it away after a minute and came back over to Jakes.

"We have to get back..." Mike said, not wanting to go into specifics.

"You think we got enough detail for P?" Jakes asked laughing.

"Yeah, we can make this work."

Jakes looked over to the cubby area... "Go take some more pictures, Mike," he said, hoping Mike would understand.

He turned around a bit so that Jessie wouldn't see Mike snooping in her notebook. Quattrodiano was a family name of rundown kingpins in California. Could she have figured out that something was wrong with the kid's family?

Jakes headed for the door and Mike caught up to him quickly, nodding his head.

Just as they started to leave the classroom, Mike felt a hand on his shoulder. He was nervous for a second, but turned to find the mother of that little blond girl.

"I just wanted to stop you before you left and give you my card," she said, holding out a business card to Mike.

"Oh, thank you so much," Mike said. He looked down at the girl who was now standing shyly behind her mother's leg. "It was nice to meet you, Julie."

The woman took a breath. "And it doesn't matter what anyone says... I think it's great that the two of you are doing this. I'm sure you're a wonderful couple and excellent fathers."

Mike and Jakes both lost their breath. "Oh we're- we're not- not a-" Mike stuttered.

"We're not together," Jakes said for him.

"But you're roommates?" the woman asked. "I'm sorry I just assumed with two men-"

"Four men," Jessie corrected.

"Ohhh," the woman said.

"No!" Jakes said a bit too loudly, shaking his head. "We are just roommates."

"It's a big house," Mike added. He needed to explain without actually explaining. "My girlfriend and I are the ones with custody-, she's at work and I didn't want to do this by myself."

"Ohhh, I see," the woman said laughing. "Sorry about that."

"Happens to Mike all the time," Jakes said, shaking his head.

Mike shot him a death glare and then said another quick goodbye before turning and heading back out to the car with Jakes, who was still holding Jessie.

"She's not your girlfriend," Jessie said to Mike. "A girlfriend is somebody you take on dates."

"So then what is she?" Mike asked her our of curiosity.

Jessie didn't give an answer at first while she thought it over.

"I don't know," she said. "What comes after a girlfriend but before a wife?"

"That's a great question, kid," Jakes said. Mike ignored it altogether and made sure Jessie was buckled in the back of the car as Jakes left the parking lot to drive back to the sitter's house. He checked his phone and scrolled through the photos of her "case notes."


	4. Open House: Part 3

"Paige, I want to grab her too, but do you think it's too late?" Mike asked, driving towards Ms. Miller's house anyway.

Paige was sitting in the passenger's seat of Jakes' car, with Mike driving. It had taken a bit of scheming, but Paige convinced Jakes to ride back with Briggs, leaving Mike and herself with the car.

"It's 2am, Paige. She's not going to notice if we get her now or in the morning. It's too late to wake up that poor woman."

"We told her we'd get her, Mike," Paige said defending herself.

He pulled into Ms. Miller's driveway and put the car into park. "Ms. Miller said she'd be up late..." Mike admitted.

Paige leaned in and kissed him. "I texted her a little while ago; she said it's fine."

Mike snickered and shook his head. "Of course you did."

Paige shivered when he opened the car door, but Mike reminded her that they could go back to Graceland soon and sleep in.

Mike was relieved when he saw Ms. Miller answer the door, grateful that he didn't need to wake her up. He crept into the house, following her lead, and smiled when he saw Jessie passed out on the couch wrapped in a blanket. He got down on one knee and ran his hand across her forehead. Her eyes fluttered and he scooped her up into his arms. She resisted for a moment, but he whispered in her ear and her head crashed down onto his shoulder. Mike hooked her bag under his other arm and carried her out to the car.

He thanked the woman and left some money on the table in the foyer before taking Jessie out to Paige.

Paige opened the front passenger door and signaled to Mike to bring Jessie to her. They worked together to transfer the sleeping body from Mike's shoulder to Paige's. She held onto Jessie tightly and Mike made sure the door was shut properly before getting back in the driver's seat.

They knew it wasn't the safest arrangement in the world, but they'd be home in a few minutes and they didn't want to risk waking her up by putting her in the back.

"So how was it?!" Paige asked, remembering that she still needed to pry details out of the boys.

"It was good, Paige. Really. She was so excited and she has little friends. The teacher was great. Her work and drawings are displayed all over the place..."

"But-" Paige said, sensing that there was another side to his description.

Mike took a breath. "She's, well, she thinks she's an agent, which don't get me wrong, is really cute right now, but... I don't want her carrying around that stress. She had case notes. And a transmitter watch made of paper."

"She didn't!" Paige whispered back at him. Mike pulled into the driveway at Graceland and leaned over to kiss Paige.

"Was her notebook just all nonsense?" Paige asked, trying to wrap her head around the details as Mike continued to explain.

"That's con-di-fen-tial," Mike said smiling. He walked around to open the car door for her and took Jessie back into his arms.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Her words, not mine."

"No shit."

"I took pictures of some pages," he explained. "Jakes noticed another one of the kids must be related to the Quattrodiano ring." Mike tried to brush off the comment and headed straight for the staircase in the house.

Paige grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. "What?" she asked blankly. "She's around that-"

"It's a five year old kid!" Mike whispered harshly back. "I'll show you her little notes and pictures later."

"She would have notes..." Paige said aloud, shaking her head in disbelief. "Of all the schools in SoCal, she winds up in the same room as..."

"It's a good school, Paige," Mike said cutting her off. "She's going to be just fine."

Mike took Paige's hand and they climbed the stairs together to the second floor.

"Get ready for bed, and I'll go put her upstairs," Mike said, Jessie still in his arms.

As if on cue, the little girl whimpered and shook her head against his shoulder.

"Are you sleeping with us tonight?" he asked her, partially not expecting a response. To his surprise, she nodded yes.

Mike looked to Paige for approval, but she could tell he was completely fine with it too.

"Your room," she said, walking past her door to his. "One of these days I'm just going to swap all of our stuff. I should have done it when you transferred to DC. You know I'm jealous of that bathroom..."

"You're too lazy to move all of your stuff. And it's pretty much a shared room now anyway."

"i know... if only there was more closet space in your room. Hell, I would have switched when Donny got shot."

"Lauren would have had your head."

"Why do you think I'm still in my room?"

Paige didn't really own pajamas, but she took out two of Mike's t-shirts and changed into the longer one, throwing the smaller one onto the bed and leaving her jeans on his floor.

Mike had propped Jessie up a bit higher on his chest and was able to get both of her shoes off. Paige helped him with the shorts, and he positioned his arms so that Paige could lift Jessie's shirt up over her head. They switched it out for Mike's shirt, which may as well have been a dress on her. They had become pros at sleep-changing.

"I'll be out in a few minutes," Paige said, taking advantage of Mike's half bath.

Mike wanted to wait for her so that he could brush his teeth and wash his face, but he was just too tired, and the little hand clinging to his neck made him throw away any kind of plans for a nighttime routine he had.

He pulled back the covers and laid Jessie down in the center of the bed so that he could change into sweat pants. When he turned back towards her, he saw the little girl reach out in her sleep and he hurried to get his watch off.

Paige was still taking forever, so Mike lie on his side of the bed and turned off the setting on his alarm so that it wouldn't disrupt them in the morning.

He let himself shut his eyes, and when he felt something stir next to him, he reached his hand out a bit to let Jessie know he was there. He heard some more rustling and then felt the weight of her head on his chest, causing him to fall asleep instantly.

Paige opened the bathroom door a few minutes later and fought the tear in her eye from moving down her cheek when she saw Jessie laying peacefully on Mike, both of them sound asleep. A few months ago, Mike and Jessie were equally nervous around each other, but Paige knew that her housemates had made the right decision to let her stay.

She walked to the other side of the bed and snuggled right up against the two of them, smiling when Mike's hand latched around her and held her close.


	5. Shattered: Part 1

"Are you ready to go now, Paige?"

Jessie leaned over Paige, who was sunbathing on a beach chair. They had decided to have a fun girls day at the beach, but Jessie didn't think Paige's version of "going to the beach" was all that fun. She just laid there. At least when Johnny or Briggs came to the beach, she could go in the water or play football or something.

Without getting an answer from Paige, Jessie reached down and pulled off the woman's sunglasses.

Paige squinted up at her and smiled. "Are you done? You wanna go back inside?"

Jessie nodded and picked up her towel, shaking it out in the process.

Paige jolted up. "Sand, sand!" Paige said, spitting the fly-away sand out of her mouth. "You can't just pick up the towel when I'm laying-"

Paige stopped when she saw Jessie's puppy-dog eyes, looking all innocent and confused about what she had done wrong.

"It's ok, sweetheart," Paige said, forcing a smile, "let's go back to the house."

Jessie grabbed her pail and shovel, along with her towel, put on her flip-flops and followed Paige over to the sidewalk at Venice Beach so that they could walk home to Graceland.

They passed a few skateparks along the way and Jessie eyed the skaters closely, fascinated by their tricks on the ramps.

"Can you do that?" Jessie asked Paige, keeping her head turned towards the kids.

Paige laughed. "No... that's not something I think I want to do."

"Have you tried it?" Jessie asked, her eyes still focused back towards the park. She moved to the left side of Paige to get a better look.

"I don't think me skating is a good idea," Paige said. "Watch where you're going ok? There's broken glass all over the sidewalk."

It was almost as if Paige's warning had commanded the fall to occur. A teenage boy flew in-between Paige and Jessie on his skateboard and got caught on the beach chair Paige was holding. The force knocked Paige flat on her back. Because her hands were full, she couldn't catch herself and she smacked her head against the pavement.

What Paige didn't realize was that the skater's attempt to swerve away had caused Jessie to fall sideways, bits of broken glass lodging into the side of her left leg, left forearm and hand.

"Shit!" Paige yelled as she touched the back of her head, checking to see if there was a blood stain on her fingers.

"It's coming out-" Jessie said softly, watching the blood start to stain Paige's hair. Jessie stood up before Paige saw that she had been on the ground too.

Jessie's eyes got watery from the pain. "Are you ok?" Jessie whined, her voice breaking.

Paige turned and saw that she had started to cry. "I'll be fine," Paige said. She tried to believe her own words. "Can I have that towel?"

Jessie nodded and used her right arm to pass the towel along to Paige. Jessie was nervous about what might happen if Paige saw the glass. She knew it would hurt when they took it out. Luckily for her, Paige was still standing on Jessie's right side.

She watched as Paige pressed the towel up against the back of her head. The woman hissed and shut her eyes.

"Will Charlie fix it?" Jessie asked her.

"Somebody will fix it," Paige assured her. She prayed that it didn't need stitches. She couldn't handle that right now. When Lil' Top stabbed her through the hand, Briggs had to tell the ER staff to sedate Paige before trying to examine her. She was tough as nails, but when it came to blood and pain, Paige was very anxious.

Jessie kept her right hand on Paige's hip as they walked a few houses down back to Graceland.

"We're just going to tell Charlie, ok?" Paige said to her. Mike would want her to go to the hospital, and that wasn't going to happen. She reached back to feel the cut on her head and to see if the bleeding had stopped. No such luck.

Jessie nodded, but Paige didn't turn her head to look down at the girl.

When they got to the steps under Graceland, Paige could hear her crying, but assumed it was because Jessie could see all the blood on the back of her head.

"It's ok, Jess. It's ok," Paige repeated, trying to soothe herself as well. They climbed the steps up to the living room and Paige was really hoping that Mike wasn't anywhere in sight.

Paige sighed - she saw Charlie on the couch going through reports about the oxy shipments. Charlie turned her head towards them when she heard the door open and immediately stood up.

"What happened?!" Charlie yelled, running towards Paige and checking the back of her head.

"Shhh," Paige said, hesitant to let Charlie see under the bloody towel. "Can we go in the bathroom? Lock the boys out? I don't want Mike to-"

"No more stairs for you," Charlie said. She led Paige to the kitchen and sat her down at the table. Jessie kept her distance and stayed back in the foyer.

"Is Jessie ok?" Paige asked, trying to turn Charlie's attention onto something else.

Jessie's left arm had started to bleed, but as she walked to climb up the stairs to her room, the women couldn't see that she was injured.

"I'll be up in a little while, sweetheart," Charlie said. "Paige is going to be fine."

Jessie gave a little nod and tried to hold back her tears. She waited for Charlie's attention to return to Paige and then slowly snuck up the rest of the stairs to her room.

"Don't let her tell Mike," Paige said.

"He's gonna find out," Charlie said. She grabbed a clear washcloth, tweezers, and some other supplies. "How did this happen?!"

"Some asshole texting on a skateboard slammed into me and knocked me back onto the sidewalk. She saw the whole thing."

Paige hissed as Charlie washed the blood away. "Well I don't think it needs stitches..." Charlie said, "but it hasn't stopped bleeding yet. I think there's a piece of-"

Charlie stopped herself and quietly reached for the tweezers. "Was there glass on the sidewalk?" Charlie asked. She was about to pull a piece out of the cut, but Paige turned her head. There were footsteps on the stairs.

"Whoaaa, P!" It was Johnny. "What happened? And why is there blood on the stairs?"

"I didn't go upstairs," Paige said to herself.

"Did Jessie get your blood on her shoes?" Charlie asked.

"No..."

"It's like drops, P," Johnny said.

"Did she fall too?" Charlie asked.

There was a beat of silence.

"Oh my god," Paige said, trying to stand up. "I didn't see, but she was crying and I- I thought..."

Charlie kept Paige firmly seated at the table. "Johnny, go find her! It's her blood!"

"Who's blo-?" He realized who Charlie was talking about as he yelled the question, and sprinted up the stairs two at a time to find Jessie.


	6. Shattered: Part 2

Johnny didn't stop his sprint up the stairs until he reached the third floor. He could hear the soft crying coming from the bathroom now. The door was cracked open and Johnny was tempted to barge into the bathroom, but he stopped himself.

Jessie hadn't told Paige or Chuck. She snuck up the stairs. Johnny knew he needed to tread lightly.

He opened the door slowly and scanned the room. His heart sank when he saw her in standing in the corner still wearing her bathing suit, blood drip marks all down her left arm and leg.

"Hey there," Johnny said, taking a step towards her.

She spun around and gasped, making Johnny cringe. He wanted to grab her and run - that's what his brothers would have done to him - but Johnny didn't want to break the trust he had with the kid.

"It's ok!" Johnny said, taking another step toward her.

Jessie pressed her back into the wall and put up her right hand across her body. "Nooo," she pleaded, tears now running down her cheek.

"You fell in glass?" he asked. He ran his hand across the top of his head. He hadn't been sure what to expect. A deep cut on her knee maybe? Not this.

Johnny crouched down in front of her and tried to get a good look at where she was cut. "I'm so sorry this happened," he said to her. "You have to let me help you get these pieces out, baby."

"Nooo," she whined again, shaking her head at him.

Johnny took her left hand and gently tried to see how bad it was. "You really think me and Paige and Chuck are gonna hurt you? We're not gonna let that happen."

"No, b-but the gl-glass will hurt." The tears were more steady and Johnny very carefully pulled her into a little hug.

"I know baby, that's why we need to get the rest of it out of you, ok? You trust me, right?"

He felt Jessie nod into his shoulder and he quickly examined her leg while her head was buried.

"Like in the ocean?" she asked him, picking up her head.

"Yeah, like in the ocean. I won't let you fall off the board, k?"

Johnny sighed when he felt her rest her head on his shoulder. He picked her up slowly and told her to be still while he carried her back down the stairs.

Paige stood up and came over to Johnny as he reached the living room, her hand over her mouth in shock.

"How did I-? How did I miss this?" she repeated to herself.

"Paige, this is not your fault," Charlie said trying to redirect Paige's attention. "Your head's cut open and you didn't know she fell. Now sit down so I can finish cleaning your-"

"No," Paige said to Charlie, "I can wait. She comes first." Paige grabbed a gauze pad off the table and held it to the back of her own head.

"Where should I put her, Chuck?" Johnny asked. Charlie rubbed Jessie's back and gently touched her cut-up arm. "We need to lay her down somewhere," she said to him. "The lighting is better in the kitchen."

When she felt Johnny start to walk, Jessie tightened her grip around him. Johnny could hear that she had started to cry again.

"I'll text Paul and Mikey to come back," Charlie said.

Paige threw her a death glare. She reached over to the laundry pile and grabbed one of the boy's t-shirts. She didn't think having a head wound while in a bikini was going to help her cause when Mike got home.

"Paige, we need some back-up right now," Charlie said, grabbing her cell. "Mikey being overprotective is the least of my concerns, and Paul will be better with her," Charlie argued, nodding over to Jessie.

Paige's attention was now solely focused on Jessie. Guilt didn't even begin to describe how horrible she felt for not realizing.

"Ok, they're on their way back," Charlie said, reading the screen on her phone.

Johnny moved into the kitchen and Paige helped him clear off the table. She laid a blanket down on it and wiped some stray tears from her eyes.

Charlie was going through cabinets looking for the other first aid kit. "She's gonna be fine, Paige. It's like splinters- soon as they're out, no more pain."

"Except that it's glass-"

Johnny tried to place Jessie down on her back on the table, but it just made her more upset. She clenched her left leg around Johnny to get a better grip on him, causing a new line of blood to start running down from one of the cuts where there was still a piece of glass.

"I want Mikeyyy," Jessie whined.

"He's coming, Jess. He's coming," Paige said.

The door slammed open on cue. Mike ran straight for the kitchen, but Briggs stopped when he saw Charlie walking towards him.

"Chuck, what happened?!" Briggs yelled. Charlie headed for the stairs.

"I'm going to get another pair of tweezers," she said calmly. "They're both scared. Keep your voice down."

Briggs nodded at her and walked into the kitchen. Paige winced as Mike forced her to let him look at the back of her head. "What the hell happened?" Mike asked, pressing the gauze back on the cut.

"Skateboarder knocked us both down on the sidewalk. Beer bottles everywhere."

"Why didn't you call me?!"

"Because you'd freak out!"

"Of course I would freak out!"

"Mike..." It was a little voice amid the power struggle that got Mike's attention.

"She was asking for you," Paige said quietly. Mike made his way over to Jessie, held protectively in Johnny's arms, and cautiously ran his hand over where she was cut.

"Hey, I'm right here," he said. She tried to throw herself at him, but Johnny and Mike both stopped her.

"Don't move," Mike commanded.

"How many pieces is it?" Briggs asked, going through the med kit for small gauze pads and disinfectant.

"10 ish?" Johnny said.

Briggs looked over at Paige.

"I'm fine," she said, backing a step away from him.

Briggs squinted at her.

"Paige, you're not finished until Charlie says so," Briggs said calmly. "Me, Mike and Johnny will handle this."

"I texted Jakes," Mike said, "he's on his way too."

Johnny looked at Mike and then nodded down at the kitchen table. "I need you to help me..."

Mike slowly got Jessie to let go of the hold she had around Johnny's neck. He acted like he was going to take her into his arms, but they worked together to lie her down on top of the blanket so that her left side was facing out.

He talked to her constantly, repeating that she was ok, but she fought against them anyway.

Mike stood at the end of the table above Jessie's head and kept one hand on her chest until he was sure she wouldn't try to sit up.

"I'm right here," he said. He had her attention for a second, but she snapped her head to the side when she saw Briggs sit down on the bench at the table and place some stuff down by her hand.

"We're gonna fix your arm first kiddo, ok?"

Briggs reached out and wiped the remaining tears from her cheek. "I'm just gonna look at it."

There were three cuts near her elbow and he could see two bigger pieces of glass. "Johnny, give me your phone."

Johnny, who was still helping keep Jessie's legs pinned to the table, handed over his smartphone. Briggs turned on the flashlight feature and shined the light over the cuts, wincing. Jessie watched his every move.

"Can I talk to you like a big girl?"

Jessie nodded at him and did her best to fight the frown that was growing on her face.

"It looks like it's two pieces here. We're gonna take these out with tweezers, and then look and see to make sure it's all gone, and then we need to clean it and put on medicine. We need to make sure there's no sand or dirt in there ok?"

"Ughhh - stop!" Paige flinched away from Charlie on the island countertop.

Charlie was standing over her with a pack of disinfectant wipes.

"Not helping, P," Briggs said to her with a smile.

"What do you want to do tonight?" Mike asked Jessie, redirecting her attention up to him. He ran his hand over her forehead and tried to keep a smile on his face. "Should we make a bonfire?"

"With m-marshmallows?" she mumbled.

"Yeah, a whole bag of marshmallows," Mike said grinning.

"Mmm, that sounds so good right now," Briggs said. He put his left hand firmly on her forearm and picked up the tweezers. He grabbed the piece that looked easiest to take out and counted down from three for her. Jessie shut her eyes and squeezed Mike's hand when she felt him tug the glass out.

"You ok?" Briggs asked, relieved that she didn't get upset. He pulled out the next piece without counting and he heard her take a sharp breath.

"Johnny, come sit here," Briggs said.

Jessie felt Johnny hold her bad hand and tried to wiggle out of his grasp.

"These pieces are smaller, baby," Briggs said calmly. He got Johnny to hold the light over her hand and pulled out the little shards he could see.

"Right there," Johnny said, trying to point out another piece. Johnny pulled back the skin a bit to expose another glass splinter. Briggs grabbed it as fast as he could, but he knew the tweezers hurt her. She bent her knees and kicked her feet up flat onto the table. Mike was whispering in her ear and held onto her right hand so that she could squeeze it.

"Paul, do you still have that liquid bandage stuff?" Charlie asked. Paige ducked away from Charlie again.

"Paige, come here. Let me see it," Mike said.

"No, it's fine."

"That means you know it needs stitches," Mike said, smiling at her. "I'm a little preoccupied right now- I'm not going to toss you over my shoulder and force you to go to the clinic..."

Paige hopped off the counter, but didn't move.

Mike looked down at Jessie. "Tell Paige to come over here."

"Paige!" Jessie said.

"You can't manipulate my emotions like that, Michael Warren."

"Paige!"

That time it was a real cry for her. Briggs had run the antiseptic over the cuts on Jessie's arm and she twisted her hips away from them, trying to get off the table. Johnny held her hand and threw his other arm across her to prevent her from doing worse damage.

Paige was there in seconds. She sat at the table on the padded seat opposite Briggs. She moved her hand up and down Jessie's chest to try and get her to relax again.

"I'm right here, sweetheart."

Jessie flipped her head over towards her. She smiled when she saw Mike looking at the back of Paige's head.

"Are you ok?" Jessie asked softly.

"Yeah Jessie, I'm perfectly fine."

"Did you find that liquid bandage stuff, Charlie?" Mike asked, "We can tell Jakes to-"

"Tell Jakes what?" Jakes walked into the kitchen and looked around as if he just stepped into the circus. "What is going on?"

He walked over to Jessie so that she could see him and made a funny face at her. "We eat at this table. Why are you bleeding on it?"

She'd understood his humor for a while now, which made him very happy. He was nervous that she would think he was truly upset with her, but when she started to laugh at his comment, the whole room relaxed.

"I don't want to bleed on it, Jakes," she said.

"It's ok, princess, it's not my week to clean the kitchen anyway," he said. He winked at her and then looked at Mike. "What did you want me to get?"

"Paige needs stitches, but-"

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do," Charlie said from across the room. "But I used that liquid stuff one time - it worked pretty good. We can try that."

Briggs looked down at the cuts on Jessie's leg. "Yeah, that might be a good idea, Chuck."

"Alright - I'll be back." Jakes leaned down and kissed Jessie's forehead before heading out to the car.

"Ok, Jess," Briggs said. He slowly lifted her hurt hand and rested it on her stomach. "Paige is going to hold this hand while we get your leg fixed up."

Briggs pulled out the glass quickly and pressed gauze to the cut that was still bleeding.

"Does that feel ok?" Briggs asked her.

Jessie nodded and tried to sit up, but Mike and Paige stopped her.

"Here," Charlie said. "We don't wanna traumatize the kid." She put a bowl with soapy water down on the table with some soft cloths. She grabbed the disinfectant and put it back in the kit. "Just use that. We're putting Neosporin on it anyway."

Johnny washed off the dried blood and remaining sand from her leg with the cloth and gently tried to clean the cuts. "Is this better?" he asked her.

"Is what better?" Jessie asked innocently.

"Nothing-" Johnny said, laughing. "Are you gonna make me a marshmallow later? You know, I taught you how to roast a marshmallow in the first place."

"I know," Jessie said.

"You remember that?"

"Mhmmm," she said. "And Mike dropped his because he was trying to show off."

"Hey!" Mike said, smiling down at her. He noticed Briggs was still holding the bandage tight to Jessie's leg. "Is it still -?"

Briggs nodded. "We'll give it a few more minutes and see if it stops bleeding."

"Jessie," Briggs said, "Do you feel that all the glass is out? Is anywhere still pinching?"

They watched as she shook her head.

"You have to tell us if it bothers you, ok?" Mike said seriously.

Johnny got to work on putting the antibiotic ointment and bandages on all the other cuts on her leg and then moved to the opposite side of Briggs to do the same thing to her arm.

"That doesn't even hurt," Jessie said, watching him closely.

"Can I have your hand please?" Johnny asked. Jessie confidently moved her injured hand over to him and let him bandage it too.

"Is it any better, Paul?" Paige asked, still eyeing the fact that Briggs hadn't moved his hand off of the spot where the glass removal caused the wound to get worse.

"Yeah, it's ok for now," he said. He wrapped it tightly and secured it with some tape. Briggs looked up at Paige. "We fix you first when Jakes gets back though."

Jessie reached out to Paige's cheek. "It's ok, Paige. It won't hurt you."

"I know, sweetheart," she said.

Jessie saw Briggs stand up and looked up to Mike.

"Can we watch a movie now?" she asked him.

"Of course," he said.

Johnny flicked his wrist and made a whip noise.

"Excuse me?" Mike asked, making a face at him.

"You are so whipped, Mikey."

"And you're not?" he retorted.

Mike went to lift Jessie into his arms, but Briggs stopped him.

"I hurt you," Briggs said to Jessie, "I get to hold you and redeem myself."

Jessie hooked her arm behind his neck and allowed him to lift her off the table and carry her.

"It's ok," she said, resting her head against his chest. "I still love you."

He fell into the corner of the living room couch and kicked his legs up, a smile beaming across his face. He was about to ask her what movie he should start, but her eyes were shut and her breathing was slowing down. He covered them both with a blanket and joined her in a nap.

Paige walked out of the kitchen with Mike on her heels. "Next time," he said, "you call me." He planted a kiss on her neck and she turned, kissing his lips and running her hands down his sides.

"You know if Jessie wasn't hurt you would have thrown me over your shoulder," Paige whispered into his ear.

He laughed quietly. "What makes you think I still can't?"


	7. A Lady In The Kitchen

**Inspired by events in 03x07 - Sidewinder.**

* * *

Even from the third floor, Jessie knew when something delicious was being cooked in the kitchen at Graceland. She didn't know how early it was, but if someone was cooking, it meant her housemates must have been awake.

Jessie ran down the two flights of stairs, but she stopped in her tracks when she saw Johnny hugging a lady in the kitchen.

It looked like Charlie, but she was wearing one of Johnny's shirts. Jessie spied on them from the bottom step, and when she saw Johnny kiss the lady on the back of the neck, she turned around and ran back up the stairs.

Jessie had to tell somebody. It was a Saturday morning and Briggs, Charlie and Mike all had their bedroom doors shut. She could see that Paige wasn't at her desk or in her bed, but Jakes had his door partially opened. Jakes would help her, right?

Jessie walked into Jakes' room, but got nervous when she saw he was still asleep. She stood by his pillow and put her elbows up on his bed.

"Jakes?"

When he didn't budge, Jessie tapped him lightly on the back.

She held her breath as he rolled in his sleep. He squinted his eyes and sniffed the air. "Who's cooking?" he mumbled.

"Jakes!" she tried again.

He registered who was speaking to him now and slowly opened his eyes. "Hey," he said softly, "what are you doing in here? You ok?"

"Yeah..." she said, unsure how to tell him about what she saw.

"It's too early," Jakes said. "Learn to enjoy the weekend." He reached out and pulled her up onto the bed. "Sleep," he said bluntly.

Jessie laid next to him and stared up at the ceiling for what felt like an hour.

"Why aren't you downstairs?" Jakes asked her. "Who's cooking?"

"A lady," Jessie said.

"Charlie?"

"Nope!"

Now she had Jakes' attention.

"Then who is it?"

"Just a lady... Johnny's with her too."

"Oh," Jakes said, nodding as if that had been a good enough answer. "Is she wearing a suit?"

"No," Jessie said casually. "She forgot her clothes, so Johnny gave her a shirt."

Jakes sat up in the bed and stared down at her with a funny expression.

"How do you know this?"

"I saw them."

"What was Johnny wearing?"

Jessie shrugged her shoulders. "I couldn't see. He was wrapped in the blanket from the couch."

"Did he tell you to come back upstairs...?"

Jessie shook her head and smiled. "He didn't see me."

"You were spying on them?"

"Hey, Jakes?" Briggs popped his head into Jakes' room, "what time did you want to-" He stopped when he realized Jessie was sitting up on Jakes' bed with him.

"Good morning, Briggs" Jessie said, tilting her head to the side.

"What are you two smiling about?"

"The lady in the kitchen," Jessie answered.

Briggs crossed his arms and looked at Jakes. "The who?"

Jakes put up his hand to stop Jessie from saying anything else.

"Johnny's in the kitchen, with a lady who forgot to bring her own clothes, so she's wearing one of Johnny's t-shirts. Johnny's wrapped in a blanket and they're making breakfast together."

"And how do we know this?" Briggs asked, trying not to laugh.

"I saw it from the steps," Jessie said proudly.

"He didn't see you?" Briggs asked her.

Jessie shook her head and scrunched her face. "And he kissed her neck!" she giggled.

Briggs and Jakes shared a look and Briggs giggled back at the little girl. "You wanna do a job?" he asked.

Jakes put his hands behind his head and fell back against the headboard, ready for whatever crazy plan Briggs had in mind.

"Don't let them see you," Briggs said. "Go see if you can listen for her name."

Jessie nodded and slid off the bed, giving Briggs a high-five as she exited the room.

She crept halfway down the steps and crouched so that she wouldn't get caught. The island in the kitchen was messy and there were frying pans on the stove top.

"Thank you, baby," Johnny said. Jessie watched as he rubbed the mystery lady's back. The lady turned around and whispered some stuff to him that Jessie couldn't hear. But then he kissed her on the lips and he didn't let go!

Jessie jumped up and quietly went back up the stairs, her hand covering her mouth so she wouldn't laugh. She made a sharp right turn, ran past Briggs and jumped up, diving onto the bed.

Briggs and Jakes were both highly amused. "Did you get a name?" Briggs asked her.

Jessie shook her head with the biggest smile on her face. "He called her 'baby'."

"What is going on?"

Mike stood in Jakes' doorway wearing running clothes and sneakers. He looked back and forth between the three of them with a confused expression.

"He kissed her on the lips for a long time!" Jessie yelled at them. She fell backwards on the bed and let out a belly laugh.

Now Mike was really confused. Briggs hit him lightly on the chest and nodded over towards Jessie. "Mikey, we've got a spy in the house."

"I didn't mean to!" Jessie said. She sat up and looked over to Mike and Briggs.

"Johnny, who forgot to put clothes on this morning, brought a lady-friend over, who happens to be wearing his shirt," Jakes explained, trying to use Jessie's phrasing.

"She saw them when she went downstairs, but they didn't see her," Briggs clarified. "We sent her back down to try and listen for the chick's name, but I guess..."

"They were kissing..." she giggled again.

"What do you say we get rid of her?" Jakes asked the little girl.

Jessie nodded and Jakes leaned in to her ear, whispering the plan.

"Can you do that?" Jakes asked her. "You don't have to..."

"He won't be mad?" Jessie asked carefully.

"He's in trouble," Jakes said smiling, "he's not allowed to be mad."

Without giving him another answer, Jessie slid off the bed and headed for the door. She looked up at Mike and Briggs. "Stay here. If I scream your name, come rescue me," she said up to the men.

"Are we on tactical?" Mike asked her with a smirk.

Jessie squinted her eyes and then nodded at him. She took a breath and ran down the stairs, remembering what Jakes had told her to do.

She walked into the kitchen and Johnny caught her out of the corner of his eye. Jessie saw him point for her to go back to the stairs, but it was too late.

"Oh, hello," the lady said gently. "Who is this cutie?"

Before Johnny could answer, Jessie reached her arms up to him. "Good morning, daddy!" she said.

Johnny didn't have a choice but to pick her up and let her cuddle into him. "Does she work with you like the other girls, daddy?" Jessie asked, trying to say it just like Jakes had told her.

"No, she doesn't work with-" Johnny said, fumbling over his phrasing.

"What's your name?" Jessie asked the woman.

"Jenny," she said. "But you know, I forgot I had a meeting this morning..."

"On a Saturday?" Johnny asked, following her out of the kitchen.

"Yeah, it's a new work thing-"

Johnny put Jessie down and she ran back up the stairs. She got a name AND the lady was leaving? This was news.

She was proud of herself as she jumped back up onto Jakes' bed.

"So?" Jakes asked.

"Her name is Jenny, but she said she had to leave to go to work."

"What did you-?" Mike asked, eyeing the two of them.

"I told her to call him, daddy," Jakes said quickly.

Mike and Briggs cowered over laughing, but snapped to attention when they realized that the plan wasn't quite over.

"JESSIE!" Johnny's scream was loud enough to wake up the whole house.

Jessie gasped and threw the covers over head, lying flat on Jakes' mattress.

"Where is she?!" Johnny yelled at the three other men.

"Who, John boy?" Briggs asked calmly.

"She just-" Johnny looked at the three of them with a confused expression.

"We haven't seen her," Mike added.

"Is she ok? What happened?" Jakes asked.

Johnny changed his posture and shook his head. "Oh, umm, nothing. It was nothing."

"Why aren't you wearing shorts?" Mike asked him.

"Did you make it up here last night?" Briggs questioned.

"I'm going in the shower..." Johnny said. He backed out of the room and headed for the bathroom.

Jakes leaned over and put his hand down on the blanket. "He's gone," Jakes told her.

Jessie sat up and pushed the covers onto her lap. "Good work, team," she said.


	8. Briggs School: Part 1

"Ok, I have to go, Jessie," Paige said, putting the girl's lunchbox on the kitchen table. "Have a good day at school." Paige leaned down and kissed her goodbye, but she paused when she realized Jessie was still in pajamas. "Why aren't you dressed yet?" Paige asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

"I'm not going today," Jessie said. She was reading a book at the table while Mike and Briggs made quick breakfasts and got ready for their day.

"What do you mean you're not going today?" Paige asked.

Jessie pointed to the calendar by the chore wheel on the wall. "There's no school today!"

There was a beat of silence in the kitchen.

"Is today a holiday?" Briggs asked. "Remember that time we didn't realize it was Thanksgiving when we did that restaurant bust?"

Paige laughed at him. "Johnny was pissed he missed out on his mother's gravy..."

"Johnny still has a mommy?" Jessie asked. Her question was ignored as Paige consulted the calendar and scanned her finger across the correct week. "Oh crap, you're right. No school."

"I know I'm right," Jessie said innocently.

Paige looked over to Mike, whose sole response was to shrug his shoulders.

"I have a meet with the biggest dealer of-" Mike said, defending himself.

"Shh," Paige said, "I know. She can't come with me either."

"Can we visit Johnny's mommy one day?"

"You'll have to ask Johnny," Briggs said. He put down his coffee and looked over to Mike and Paige. "You're not going to like this, but, I'll take her with me."

"What do you have?" Paige asked. She crossed her arms and stared him down.

"I'm tailing a transport. Same guys as his... thing," Briggs said nodding over to Mike. Paige shook her head and raised her eyebrows.

Briggs took a step towards her. "Jakes, Johnny and Charlie are already gone. What do you propose? I'm not going anywhere near the guy. Not even getting out of the truck."

"I get to go in the orange truck! I never get to go in the orange truck!" Jessie yelled excitedly from the table.

Briggs, Paige and Mike all shot her a look, and Jessie went back to pretending as if she wasn't paying attention to their conversation.

"Does that thing even have seat belts?" Paige asked.

"One of them works," Mike said smiling.

"No, you're never riding in that truck," Paige said to Jessie. Paige took a breath and looked down at the floor. "Take the blue car," she said.

"Is that a 'yes', P?" Briggs asked. When she didn't respond, Briggs looked over to Jessie. "Go get dressed, kid. You're coming with me."

Jessie jumped up from the table and ran upstairs to her room.

Paige watched Jessie go upstairs and then looked back at Briggs. "If there is even one glimpse of a warehouse, a meet, a sale, a buy, a-"

"Paige," Briggs said, cutting her off with an authoritative voice. "We are keeping our distance from anything exciting."

Paige looked back to Mike. "And what do you have to say about all of this?"

Mike shook his head and smiled. "They won't suspect a tail if Briggs has a kid in..."

Paige hit him in the chest. She pointed her finger back at Briggs. "I'm calling you. Every hour."

"You're going to be late, P," Briggs said.

"I know, I know." She grabbed her bag, and kissed Mike goodbye. "No Agent Orange!" Paige yelled from the living room.

The men waited for the door to slam before doing anything.

Briggs grabbed the keys from the kitchen drawer and Mike eyed him suspiciously.

"You're going to take the orange truck, aren't you?" Mike asked.

"Yep." Briggs tossed the keys up in the air and caught them, smiling at Mike. "I'll let you know where he brings the shipment."

"Sounds good," Mike said. He took breath and put up his hand. "Please, don't piss off Paige."

Briggs laughed and patted Mike's shoulder before walking away from him into the living room. "Jessie! Let's go!"

"OK!" he heard her yell.

She was wearing a gray t-shirt, jeans, dark shoes, and sunglasses. She jumped from the bottom step and pulled off the sunglasses. "I'm ready for Briggs school!"

"Hey," Mike said. He laughed when he saw what she was wearing. "You work for my case today. Remember that."

Jessie ran over and gave him a hug and kiss goodbye.

"You got it, Warren."

She put the glasses back on and walked towards Briggs.

"You want to take the orange truck?" he whispered.

Jessie beamed a smile up at him. "I like Briggs school."


	9. Briggs School: Part 2

Jessie sat in the front passenger seat of Agent Orange with a mischievous grin on her face. No school and now this?!

"Do. not. tell. Paige," Briggs commanded, putting the keys in the ignition. "Or there will be consequences."

"I have to lie?!" She pulled off her sunglasses and watched him press different buttons on the outdated dashboard.

Briggs squinted his eyes and grinned at her. "Think of it as... just keeping a secret. You don't have to lie. Just don't bring it up."

"There's a hole in the floor?!" Jessie asked excitedly. She swung her feet and looked down at the glimpse of pavement she could see through the break in the base of the jeep.

"Hey," Briggs said, getting her attention. "I'm talking to you-"

"I won't tell," Jessie said.

Briggs winked at her and put the truck in drive.

"Where are we going?" Jessie asked.

"Around..." Briggs said. He drove off the road along their beach and headed to the location where Mike had said to start tracking the dealer.

"We need to talk about some rules," Briggs said to her.

"Like what?" Jessie asked.

"Well..." Briggs thought carefully about how to phrase what he needed to say. "You know how if you didn't like somebody you used to hide from them?"

Briggs looked over to her quickly and saw her nod her head.

"So if today, somebody bad gets too close to us, and I say to 'get down', you slide off the seat fast and lay on the floor ok?"

"K," she said. "Your phone's ringing!"

"What does it say?"

"Paige! Can I do it?" Jessie asked, already reaching for his cell.

"Where are we?" Briggs asked her.

"Not in the orange truck."

"Correct."

Jessie held the phone tight to her ear. "Hi!" she yelled. "Yeah... we're driving... ok... she wants to talk to you."

Briggs put out his hand and Jessie placed the phone in his palm.

"Hi, P," Briggs said. "We're fine. Yep, I'll call you later." Briggs hung up and sighed.

"What did she say?" Jessie asked, twisting in her seat to face him.

"If anything bad happens - I'm going to be the one hiding."

"Paige will hurt you?" Jessie asked innocently.

Briggs laughed at her. "Something like that..."

He turned down a side street and crept along the road, parking a few houses down from where Mike had suggested he start.

"FBI agents are quiet and watch everything very carefully," he told her.

"Why are we watching him?" Jessie asked.

Briggs picked up his binoculars and tried to get a better look at the house. "He's doing something that is going to hurt people."

Jessie seemed satisfied with that answer and watched how Briggs took notice of the activity surrounding the house.

"How long do we wait?" Jessie asked.

"As long as it takes for him to do something."

"Can I see?"

Briggs handed over the binoculars and let her scope out the house.

"Do you have a plan?" she asked.

"Always," he said, taking the binoculars back. "Always have two plans: the one you say out loud and the one you think in your head."

Jessie nodded, but Briggs knew she didn't understand what he meant.

"What else do I need to know?"

"What do you notice about that van?"

"It says DirectTV on it."

"Do you think it's really tv people in the van?"

"No..."

"So who is it?"

"Our guys?" she asked. Briggs smiled at her. "It's a computer van?!" she asked.

"It's called surveillance," he said, "and why are they here with us?"

"In case the bad people are winning," she said.

"Yep, and to record what happens, and help Mike when he's here. And what's our job? Can we say we're the good guys?"

"No. We are pretending to just be here by accident, right?"

"Yes-" Briggs stopped himself when he saw someone walking out the front of the house.

"The phone!" Jessie said. She looked down at the cell on the seat and saw it was a text from Mike. "Mike says: follow!"

"Ok! You ready?" Briggs asked, starting the car up again. She put on her sunglasses and sat tall in the passenger seat. Briggs looked over to her and she gave him a little thumbs up.

They followed the car for about ten minutes and Briggs had to speed a bit on the highway to keep up with him. They pulled off onto a side street and Briggs guessed they were headed to where Mike had suspected, an office building with old dilapidated, For Rent signs on the front lawn. "Lie flat on the seat," Briggs said. Jessie quickly obeyed and held onto the bottom hem of his t-shirt. Briggs drove past the building to make sure the man had in fact gone inside.

"Are we winning?" Jessie whispered.

"I think so, kid. You can sit back up now."

Jessie smiled and sat with pride.

"So now what do we do?" Jessie asked.

"We go get tacos," Briggs said.

She giggled at him. "No! I mean, what do we do with the bad guy?"

"We tell Mike where he went and we go back another day to catch them. Sound good?"

"I can come?!"

"No way," he said shaking his head. "Where should we go for tacos?"

"Ummm, the truck by the pier."

"Correct again... should we call Paige?"

Jessie nodded and took his phone. She typed in the number and waited for Paige to answer, which took less than two seconds.

"I'm fine!... We did it!... Getting tacos... Cause the window is down... Ok. Bye." She hung up and put the phone back.

"What did she ask you?"

"Why it sounded windy!" Jessie shook her head at him with a doubtful expression. "I think she knows."

Briggs laughed at her. "That was a good cover line! You're learning..."

He glanced down at the phone. "When was the last time you had a pop quiz?"

"Ummmm, last week?" she said, sounding unsure.

They wanted to make sure she had all of their cell numbers memorized, as well as their address and some other important details to make sure she would get help if she was in trouble. They made her randomly repeat the information aloud to keep it fresh in her mind.

"K," Briggs said, "you typed in her number by yourself?" He watched her nod.

They pulled up to the taco truck - Hector's, which they had trained Jessie to love - and parked along the street. He helped her down and they got in line for lunch.

Jessie gasped when she saw who was working on the truck taking orders. She hid behind Briggs' leg and tugged on the pocket of his jeans. Briggs was legitimately concerned. He crouched down and put his hands on her shoulders. "What? What do you see?"

"It's her!" Jessie whispered. "The lady from the kitchen who had a sleepover with Johnny! She'll remember!"

Briggs smiled at Jessie and looked behind him to see who she was talking about. "Jenny... You mean that Jenny was Jenny from Hector's Tacos?!"

"I didn't know..." she whispered.

"You and Jakes kicked the most delicious taco-maker out of the house?!"

"But she thinks- she thinks my daddy is-"

"Ohhh," Briggs said laughing. "She's seen me and Johnny here together before. That's ok..." he said. He stood up and held her hand. "I'm proud of you, you know."

"Why?" Jessie said. She looked up at him and tilted her head to the side.

"You were going to give up tacos to keep your cover."

"No," she said with a smirk, "you could just go get the tacos without me."

Briggs put out his hand for a high five and shook his head. "That's my girl."


	10. Punched In The Face

Jessie swung her backpack off and placed it next to her in the back of Charlie's car. She put on her seatbelt and giggled as Charlie yelled at the other cars in the school parking lot.

"These idiots can't drive! Go around! No! You freaking piece of-"

Charlie heard Jessie laughing and glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "Why do all of these kids get picked up in cars at the end of the school day? Doesn't anybody just take the bus anymore?"

"Some kids do..." Jessie said, peering out the window.

"I should have pulled you early," Charlie mumbled to herself, "we're gonna be late."

Jessie caught Charlie's words and looked back up at her. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"Oh, Mike forgot to tell you?" Charlie asked.

"Tell me what?"

"You have an appointment with that psychologist down at the FBI buildin- Go around, jerk!"

Jessie scrunched her face and held onto her backpack.

"The who?" Jessie asked.

Charlie was clearly preoccupied by navigating around the elementary safety patrol kids.

"The doctor... they scheduled you for- Move!" she yelled, throwing her hands up at the car that was blocking the exit.

Jessie pulled the backpack up onto her lap and wrapped her arms around it in a hug.

Charlie made the turn out of the parking lot and looked in the rearview mirror. She saw Jessie in the backseat, her bottom lip starting to quiver.

"Like the other doctor?" Jessie asked softly.

"Oh no, no, baby. I'm sorry. This is different, ok?" Charlie said. Jessie didn't seem convinced.

"You're going to have a snack, color some pictures, and talk to the lady. They just want to make sure you like Graceland and that you're doing ok. It's been a few weeks since your paperwork cleared and they want to know that you're happy and safe. Does that sound better?" Charlie asked, mentally hitting herself for how she unnecessarily scared the kid.

Jessie nodded again and slightly eased up her grip.

"Will you stay with me?" Jessie asked, trying not to let her voice crack.

"I'll ask them, baby. It will be ok. Mike and Johnny are supposed to be at a meeting there too. Maybe we'll see them," she said smiling.

"Johnny's not under? He's coming home?" Jessie asked, some pep creeping back into her voice.

"It's supposed to end today," Charlie said, "but... we'll see what happens." She winked at Jessie. "You think he's going to finish the job?"

Jessie smiled at her and nodded.

"Me too," Charlie said.

They drove in silence for a bit, but Jessie's stomach turned when she could see the FBI building come into view.

"We're just talking?" Jessie asked Charlie again.

"Yep," Charlie said. "Just talking."

"What am I supposed to say?"

"Just be honest, sweetheart," Charlie said. "Maybe... don't bring up how Briggs took you on a heat run, ok?"

"A what run?"

"Nevermind," Charlie said. "Tell her that I'm your favorite."

Jessie looked confused, but when Charlie started to laugh, Jessie knew that the agent was just messing with her.

"You're all my favorite," Jessie said, laying her head down sideways on her shoulder.

"See?!" Charlie said, "that's what you can say to the lady."

She parked the car and took Jessie's hand as they walked inside the main lobby area.

"You've been here before," Charlie reminded her. She felt Jessie slowing down her pace, but gently guided her through the building.

"Do you want to press the elevator button?" Charlie asked her. Jessie didn't budge and Charlie hit it for them. It was a quiet ride up to the correct floor, and when the doors opened, the psychologist was waiting for them in the hall.

"Hi," Charlie said, "are you Robin?"

"Yes! And this must be Jessie," she said. She crouched down to Jessie's level and smiled at the girl. "I heard that you're pretty smart... I have a puzzle in my office and I can't figure it out. Do you think you could help me?"

Jessie looked down at the floor, but nodded her head. She tugged on Charlie's hand.

"Charlie is going to be right here and you can see her the whole time through the window. Would that be ok?"

Jessie peered up at her surroundings and agreed to what they were trying to get her to do.

"I'm not going anywhere, baby," Charlie reminded her. "Go show off and help her with the puzzle."

Jessie nodded and reluctantly followed the psychologist into her office, keeping an eye on Charlie's movements the entire time.

Charlie sat in the hall for half an hour. She could see that Jessie was talking to the stranger now, and she felt a bit proud that the little girl had changed so much over the past few months.

When their time was up, Jessie ran out to the hall and put her arms up to Charlie who instantly obliged and picked her up. "Did you have fun?"

Jessie nodded and laid her head down on Charlie's shoulder.

But Charlie's attention was on the psychologist. "Are we- are we ok?" Charlie asked her.

"Based on the initial reports, she's showing amazing progress. Just one thing - does she think she works for the FBI?"

"Ohh," Charlie said laughing, "Well, she knows she's a C.I. technically... but, I'll tell everyone to be more careful about phrasing things."

"No, it's ok," the psychologist said, "if it's helping her find identity, then, as long as you see improvement, I think it's fine."

Charlie shook the woman's hand and made sure to get all the necessary paperwork signed before heading back down to the main floor.

"Can we find Mike and Johnny now?" Jessie asked.

"Let's see..." Charlie said. She turned to walk down the hall towards the board offices and spotted Mike from across the room. She thought Mike was waving, so she walked over to him with Jessie in her arms, but as she got closer, she realized that he was trying to signal to her to leave.

"What?!" Charlie asked, "what's going on?!"

"Go! Before she sees-" Mike said. It was too late. Jessie picked her head up when she heard Mike's voice. Johnny came around the corner, still dressed as his cover. His face was all bloody and he was sporting a pretty mean black eye.

Jessie reached out to him, but started to cry. "Are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm ok," Johnny said, keeping his voice calm. "You should see the other guy." He waited for Jessie to laugh, but she didn't get the joke at all.

"You let them hit you?" Jessie asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah," Johnny lied, "I let them."

Mike laughed at her misinterpretation. Surely Johnny was too tough to get punched in the face unless it was part of the plan.

"Are you coming home now?" Jessie asked him. "Does it hurt?"

"Yeah, it hurts a little," Johnny said, wincing in pain when he smiled. "I'll see you soon, k?"

"She's been sleeping in your room all week, John," Mike said. "She won't let any of us in - something about a surprise?"

"I didn't color on the walls; I promise," Jessie muttered.

She looked around the office and tucked her head back down into Charlie's shoulder. "It's him!" she whispered.

Charlie, Mike and Johnny peered around the room and the three of them sighed in unison when they saw Clarke sitting at his desk.

"We should go punch him in the face, huh?" Charlie whispered.

Jessie grinned and nodded.

Mike saw another one of their bosses moving towards them to debrief Johnny's op. "You guys go finish the welcome home surprise," he said.

Charlie took the cue and headed back out to the car with Jessie, trying to block out the yelling that was going on behind her amongst the men arguing about what happened while Johnny was under.

She put Jessie down so that she could climb up into the car and Charlie walked around to the driver's side.

"Will Johnny teach me how to punch somebody in the face?" Jessie asked, putting on her seatbelt.

Charlie turned around in the front seat of the car to look at her. "No... in a few years, ok?"

Jessie nodded.

Charlie started the car, but then stopped herself. She turned back around to eye the little girl. "You really want Johnny to be the one to teach you that? He's the best fighter?"

Jessie thought about it for a few seconds and shook her head. "Paige will teach me."

"Damn straight."


	11. Secrets, Lies, and Santa Claus

"Are you almost finished with that?" Paige asked Jessie. The little girl was doing a worksheet at the island in the kitchen, her elbow on the counter in front of her with the side of her face resting on her palm. Jakes was next to her, reviewing new transport files for incoming shipments.

Jessie nodded in response to Paige, but kept her eyes down on the sheet in front of her.

"You, ok?" Paige asked, noticing that she was being particularly shy. Jessie nodded once more, but Paige knew something was on the little girl's mind. Jakes made a face at Paige and just shrugged his shoulders.

"Did something happen at school today that you want to talk about?" Jakes asked. Paige turned off the stove and strained the pasta out over the sink.

Jessie shook her head at him, but then slid off the stool and walked over to the stairs, dragging her feet behind her.

"Don't go too far!" Paige yelled.

"What was that about?" Jakes whispered.

Paige sighed. "Something's up, right?"

"We'll see..." Jakes said, shaking his head.

Mike and Johnny came home as Paige finished up the mac n' cheese.

"Ohh that smells good, P," Johnny said. He tried to grab some macaroni out of the bowl, but he flicked it off of his finger when he realized how hot is was.

"That's what you get!" Paige said. She gently whacked him in the chest with the clean spatula. She laughed at Johnny's reaction and then turned to Mike. "Did you pick up the surfboard?" she asked him quietly.

Mike nodded. "Jessie's going to love it. It's downstairs in the closet. We can keep it there until Christmas, easy," he whispered back. Christmas was only three weeks away, and they wanted to try and make it special for her, although the idea of having her off from school for two weeks was stressing them out a bit.

"You don't have to whisper," Jakes said, flipping pages in the folder.

"Yeah, where is she?" Johnny asked, looking around the living room and foyer.

"I think something's bothering her. She hasn't said a word since she got home. She wouldn't look at me when I asked her about it and then she moved herself upstairs," Paige said.

Mike nodded and sympathetically smiled at Paige. "I'll go get her," he said. "She needs to come eat anyway."

"Where are Paul and Chuck?" Johnny asked, helping Paige put glasses on the table.

"Not coming home till late apparently," she said. They finished setting the table for dinner and Mike came back down the stairs with Jessie walking behind him. Paige looked over to him and he shook his head at her, signaling that he didn't know what was the matter either.

"You excited for mac n' cheese?" Johnny asked, hoping to get a positive reaction out of Jessie. The girl nodded, but she didn't smile or run up to him.

Paige, Mike, Johnny, Jakes and Jessie made it about five minutes into dinner, and Mike noticed that Jessie's eyes were starting to get watery. They didn't know whether to pry or not.

"Do you feel ok?" Mike asked. He touched his palm to her forehead, but she shook it off. "Did something happen at school? Something a kid in your class said?"

Jessie just shrugged her shoulders and sniffled. They ignored her behavior for another minute or so, but when Jessie had finished with her mac n' cheese, they heard her mumble something.

"If somebody hurt you," Jakes said, "I will come with you to school tomorrow and beat them up."

Jessie shook her head and they could tell she was fighting a frown.

"I have a question," she said softly. All four of them snapped their eyes to her. "Who is Santa Claus?"

Johnny, Jakes, Mike and Paige looked baffled. That was her question? Really? It seemed simple enough at first, but when Paige went to try and answer, she found herself fumbling over what to say.

"Well," Paige said, "he is a- a person, who... some people believe that he brings gifts." Were they supposed to tell her to believe in him? The agents of Graceland had a lot of talks about Jessie's well-being, but whether she should believe in Santa Claus was not one of them.

"Ben said he brings toys to your house at night when you sleep," Jessie said, staring down at her plate.

"Is Ben in your class?" Jakes asked. They watched her nod.

"What else did Ben say?" Mike asked, hoping she'd tell them more.

"He said... he said that he sneaks in and brings you the toys and no one sees him. And that he can always see you even when he's not there." There was a tear falling down her cheek now. The agents were still confused as to why this was such an upsetting problem.

Johnny gasped. "So, you're scared that he knows you live here with us?"

Jessie nodded and the cries got a bit louder. Mike reached over to her and pulled her up into his lap. Paige wanted to cry along with her. All the other kids must be so excited talking about Santa and presents, and Jessie was terrified.

"He c-can't know and I d-don't want anybody to s-sneak in here when we s-sleep!"

"Jessie there is no-," Mike started to talk, but Paige hit him. "All the other kids will believe and talk for years," Paige whispered to him. "She keeps enough secrets."

"Jessie, listen very carefully to me," Jakes said, "Santa doesn't... do Graceland, ok? Nobody breaks into this house. The FBI has a deal with Santa and he skips us, and we just buy gifts for each other as a surprise."

Jessie picked her head up and nodded. She squinted her eyes at him. "Maybe we can put a sign on the roof just in case?" she suggested.

Johnny laughed at her. "Briggs will totally do that," he said, "100%. Just ask him when he gets home later."

"Did Ben say anything else about Santa?" Paige asked.

Jessie nodded, but she kept quiet.

"What are you thinking about, kiddo?" Mike asked. He kissed the top of her head and tried to encourage her to keep talking.

"Well..." Jessie started, "Ben said that only the good kids get toys. And I remember... I remember last year..."

Her voice cracked a little as she explained. Mike rubbed her back and they waited patiently for her to continue.

"I told him that I didn't get any toys last year and Ben says that means I was bad." She rested her head up against Mike's chest.

Mike lifted her up a bit and fought for eye contact. "Hey," he said, "that's not true. You were never bad. It's not your fault that you didn't get toys, ok? You didn't do anything wrong."

"So he can't see me?" she asked him.

"No, he can't see you."

"Cause I'm FBI?" she asked, her voice cracking once more.

"Sure," Mike said, smiling.

Jessie nodded and Mike sat her back down on his lap.

Paige remembered the collection of toys from "Santa" that was now growing in the closet downstairs. "What if..." Paige said, getting her attention, "Santa had a deal with the FBI and he left your presents at headquarters downtown? Does that sound ok?"

"Yeah," Johnny said, "He's not watching you, but, you might get some toys and I wouldn't want you to miss out on some cool new stuff or anything... just saying."

"I think he can do that," Jessie said with a hint of a smile.

"And we get presents too," Jakes said, gesturing to the adults at the table. "We trade with each other."

"I trade with you too?" Jessie asked. Now she sounded excited.

"Yep," Paige said, "we can go shopping and pick out something for everyone as a surprise. Does that sound fun?"

She nodded and turned around in Mike's lap to face him. She pulled herself up a bit and put her face close to his ear so she could whisper without being heard.

Mike listened to her request and smiled. "Oh, that's a great idea," he said.

"What?!" Paige asked, knowing they were talking about her.

"Nothing..." Jessie said to her mischievously.

"Why don't you go write that letter to Santa to tell him to leave your toys at the FBI building, and I'll send it from work tomorrow," Mike said. "I'll bet Santa has all those toys he couldn't bring you from last year saved up at his shop too."

She climbed off his lap and ran upstairs to get started on writing the letter.

Paige loudly exhaled and slid down in her chair. "I was not expecting any of that," she said.

"So I guess, we're doing Christmas this year?" Johnny asked.

"Apparently," Jakes said. "She's going to hear about it everyday for the next few weeks. We kind of have to do it. Stupid commercial America."

"Like cookies? And decorating a tree? And the music? And waiting till morning to open presents? Shit, I didn't even have all that as a kid," Johnny said.

"It'll be nice," Paige said. She took Mike's hand at the table and he squeezed her's back.

They sat in silence for a moment, but then Johnny started snickering.

"What?" Paige said, laughing at the sound of his laughter.

"'Santa's leaving presents in a cubicle at the FBI...' Who are we? When did this job get so crazy?"

"It's not crazy, Johnny," Jakes said. "It's not crazy because it's not just a 'job' anymore."

Johnny stopped and looked at him, appreciating what he was saying. He glanced back over to Paige with a spark in his eyes. "Can we do eggnog? And watch the parade on tv and shit?"

"Whatever you want, Johnny," she said smiling. He got up from the table and grabbed the notepad off of the refrigerator. "I'm going to make a list so we don't forget anything," he said.

Mike shook his head. "It looks like we need two cubicles of presents..."


	12. Car Trouble

The Christmas tree gave off a glow like Jessie had never seen before, at least from inside a house. She sat back in her favorite spot in the corner of the couch with a new book in her lap.

"Why are you still down here?" Mike asked. "It's after 10 and we need to leave." He was wearing his bulletproof vest and black boots. Jessie eyed the holster around his waist.

"I'm not tired yet," she said.

"Ok," he said, shaking his head at her, "but Paige just fell asleep an hour ago and hasn't slept in days. I want you in bed before the rest of us leave."

Mike's head turned when he heard Johnny slamming drawers in the kitchen.

"We need to take my car, right?!" Johnny asked.

"Yep!" Mike said over to him.

Jakes came up the stairs from the lower level and turned off the lights on the tree. "Why are you still up?" he asked the little girl. She put the book down on the table and glanced over at him. He too was wearing protective gear and a vest, his braids pulled up. "Come on," Jakes said to her.

"Have you guys seen my keys?!" Johnny yelled from the kitchen.

"No, John!" Mike yelled back.

"You already took a bath?" Jakes asked her. He and Mike watched her nod.

"You brushed your teeth?" Another nod.

"You're already in your pjs, so what's the problem?" Jakes asked. "I'll tuck you in if we go up now," he offered.

Jessie bit her bottom lip and stayed firmly planted on the couch.

"We don't want you staying down here when no one else is home," Mike said, trying to reason with her. "We have to go. Paige is here, but you can do this. When you wake up it will be fine."

"Seriously! Where are the freaking keys! We have to go!" Johnny yelled. He walked into the living room, also sporting his vest and holster.

"You can walk there?" Jessie asked the men.

"NO! We can't freaking-" Johnny caught himself and took a breath. "It's too far," he said more calmly.

"So then..." Jessie said, smirking, "I guess you have to stay here."

"I know that smile," Jakes mumbled.

Johnny's eyes grew wide. He crossed his arms and planted his feet firmly in front of the coffee table. "What did you do with them?" he asked Jessie.

She tried to reach for the book and hide behind it, but Johnny's voice stopped her. "Don't even think about it," he said slowly.

"Do you know where the keys are?" Mike asked gently. "It's really important that we find them."

Jessie shook her head, but her gaze drifted down to the floor. They waited in silence for someone to make another move, but Johnny had enough.

"This isn't funny!" Johnny yelled. "I know you took them! If this was my house... when I was a kid if I did that... ohhhh, I would've been over my mother's knee so fast I wouldn't have been able to sit for days!"

Johnny leaned towards her, but Jakes blocked him with his forearm. "Ok, Johnny! Easy!" Jakes said.

"Why?" Mike asked. "Why did you hide them? Did you even hide them?"

Jessie's eyes got watery, but she still wouldn't admit to taking the keys.

"Where. Are. They?" Johnny asked again.

"I don't know," she whispered.

"Try again, kid," Jakes said. He sat down on the bottom step and waited for someone else to make a move.

"Screaming's not going to make them appear, John," Mike said. He didn't have an alternative solution though...

"Stand up," Johnny said. Jessie was starting to genuinely get scared of him. He was talking like her father... she didn't want to think about it. She followed the command and stood up, standing on the couch cushions.

"Look at me," Johnny said. She obeyed, a tear running down the side of her face. Mike wanted to interject so badly, but what else were they supposed to do?

"Where did you hide the keys?"

"I don't know!" she said, more firmly this time.

"Yes you do!" Johnny yelled, throwing his hands out to the side. He took another step toward her.

"Why do you want to go?" Jessie asked, sniffling.

"You know why-!" Johnny screamed. "Ughhh, this is our job!"

Mike stepped up next to Johnny. "What do you know about where we're going, Jessie? Huh? What did you hear, sweetheart? What happened?"

"When you wear it," she said slowly. "It means it's... they will shoot you. I don't want them to... to..."

"We wear the vests to keep us safe, Jessie," Jakes said, finally chiming in by the stairs. "I won't get shot. I promise." His voice was too monotone to be believable. "Just go get the keys," he pleaded.

Jessie stepped up onto the coffee table and tried to move closer to Mike, but the front door slammed open.

The four of them snapped their heads to the foyer and were immediately in shock. They stood frozen, trying to process what they were seeing.

Briggs was hunched over, a body in his arms. Dried blood all over both of them.

Charlie. It was Charlie. She hung limp up against his chest.

Jakes ran to Briggs, helping him carry Charlie into the living room.

"What happened?" Jakes asked.

"Why? Why didn't you go to the hospital?" Mike asked, rushing forward to them.

"It's gone," Charlie whispered. "It's gone. It's gone. The baby-"

"Shhh," Briggs told her. He fought back tears and pulled her closer to his body. "We were in the ambulance on the scene," he whispered to Mike. "They said… well, we have an appointment tomorrow… we need to go in tomorrow to have them take out the…"

Mike gestured for him to stop talking. He understood. They laid Charlie down on the couch and tried to make her comfortable, doing their best to calm her down. Her arm was bandaged and there were stitches in her forehead.

"She's in and out of it," Briggs said. "She refused to go to the hospital when they wanted to take her. There was an explosion. She didn't break anything, just the cuts… but they couldn't find a heartbeat."

Briggs looked up at Johnny and Jessie, the little girl still standing tall in the middle of the coffee table, staring. Johnny had zoned out. He was lost in a spiraling stream of thoughts in his head. Not his Charlie. The woman whom he had grown to love like a sister, his ally and compass.

Jessie and Johnny got a look at Briggs' face when he turned towards them. His cheeks had tear stains and his face was marked with spots of dried blood.

Mike snapped his head around to Johnny, shocked that Jessie was still in the room, witnessing the aftermath. "Johnny! Go! Get her out of here!"

It was as if Johnny had been slapped in the face. He grabbed Jessie off of the coffee table, and when he touched her, he had flipped a switch for her to panic. She screamed and kicked at him, crying and yelling Charlie's name. He had her glued to his front, both arms wrapped around her, but she kneed him in the crotch and he had to let go. She dropped to the floor and tried to run over to the couch, screaming for Charlie.

Johnny managed to fist a piece of her pajama shirt and pulled her back. He flung her over one shoulder and ran up the stairs, ignoring the punching and pounding against his back. Mike couldn't watch as Jessie stretched her arms out to them, yelling for Charlie as she was pulled away.

Johnny ran into his room, shut the door, and locked it. He threw Jessie off his shoulder and onto his bed, letting her cry. He needed space. The thought of Charlie being hurt made him nauseous. He sat on the small couch in his room, and put his head down by his knees, trying to breathe normally.

The two of them stayed on opposite sides of his room in silence, taking the time to calm down and wrap their heads around the rollercoaster of emotions they had experienced. Jessie wanted Paige, but she couldn't bring herself to get off of Johnny's bed and leave.

She didn't know how long she had been crying, falling in and out of sleep on his bed, wrestling with the blankets. She looked at the clock on the nightstand and saw that the numbers started with 12; it had been at least an hour.

She turned on her side in his bed and saw Johnny still sitting on the couch, his head hanging in his hands, elbows propped up against his thighs. She watched him curiously. He looked like he had been crying too. She was out of tears though, and wasn't sure what Johnny was going to do when he snapped out of it. He had been so angry.

But now... now Johnny was scared. She had never seen him like this. She didn't think the agents at Graceland got scared, just like she didn't know Briggs could cry. She tried to calm herself down, thinking about all of those times when the agents were so careful and gentle with her. Johnny needed that help now.

She gingerly slid off of his bed and sat next to him on the couch. She hesitantly started to rub his back, and when Johnny's head bobbed, she realized that he had been asleep. She knew she couldn't carry him to the bed the way he would carry her, so she picked up each of his feet and managed to tip him over on the couch.

Jessie walked over to his bed and dragged the entire comforter off and onto the floor. She tripped over it a bit as she moved, but she covered Johnny with it and kissed his forehead.

She went over to his dresser and picked up the stack of Long Beach hats. Lo and behold, there under the hats, were the infamous car keys. She placed them in Johnny's hand.

She scooted under the comforter herself, laid down and snuggled into him. "I'm sorry I took your keys," she whispered. She thought about what he would say to her if he was helping her through a nightmare. "It's ok, Johnny," Jessie whispered, grabbing his hand. "I got you."


	13. The Morning After

When Jessie woke up to the sound of snoring in her ear early the next morning, it took her a few seconds to realize where she was in the house. She had slept in Johnny's room plenty of times, but never so close to the edge of his orange couch. The night's events crept back into her mind and she didn't want to wake Johnny up. She rolled off the couch carefully and made sure the keys were still next to his hand. The clock on the table read 8:25; it was ok to wake up Paige.

She walked over to Johnny's door and quietly twisted the doorknob until she heard it pop. Pulling the door open slightly and peeking into the hall, she couldn't tell if anyone else was up. She figured that Paige had slept long enough though. She had been working a lot, and Jessie wanted to tell her everything and make sure that Charlie was ok.

Paige's door was shut, but Jessie realized that there was some whispering happening from the woman's room. When Jessie heard Mike's voice whisper in return to Paige, she knocked a few times on the door. "Who is it?" Paige asked loudly into her pillow. Jessie pushed the door open a crack and leaned into the room, not at all surprised to see Mike lying in Paige's bed. She stood up on her tip-toes to see that Paige was lying on the other side of him in her usual spot.

"Come on, up," Mike said with a groggy voice.

Jessie smiled, shut the door, and ran to the foot of the bed. She climbed by their feet and wiggled up in between them until she could lie her head in the center of the pillows.

"Is Charlie ok?" Jessie asked. "And is Briggs ok?"

"Well," Mike started, "Charlie's going to be ok..."

"But her heart is still really sad?" Jessie asked.

"You know?" Paige asked her, moving a piece hair our of the little girl's face.

Jessie nodded and reached out to her. "She said 'it's gone'. Did he get hurt?"

"We don't know yet," Mike said. "They are at the hospital now trying to help it- him? Why did you say him?"

Jessie gasped and put both of her hands over her mouth. "Charlie said it was a secret, but I think it was a him too 'cause I want a brother."

"You want a brother?" Mike said smiling. He winked at Paige and she promptly kicked him under the sheet.

"We will see Charlie later," Paige said. She lay flat on her back and pulled Jessie up so that the girl was lying on her chest. "But we have a lot to talk about, don't we? Mike told me what happened last night." She ran her hand through Jessie's hair and waited for the girl to start talking.

"Well..."

"You were scared last night, right? When me and Jakes and Johnny needed to leave?" Mike asked.

Jessie nodded and closed her eyes. "I didn't want to be by myself."

"So you hid the keys?" Paige asked.

She popped her head up and made eye-contact with Paige. "No, I didn't hide them... I just knew... I knew where they were from yesterday _morning_ ," she said.

"But you didn't want to tell the boys?" Paige asked. Jessie just buried her head back in Paige's chest.

"I'm sorry that Johnny was yelling at you," Mike said. "He said some things that he shouldn't have... but you need to tell us when you're scared so that we can help you." He reached his arm out and rubbed circles on her back.

"You h-had the g-guns," she whispered. "And I didn't want to b-be by myself... But then, but then Johnny made me scared and I c-couldn't tell him because I c-couldn't be a liar or he would-"

Mike and Paige shared a glance. "He would what, sweetheart?" Paige asked softly.

"He s-sounded like my old d-daddy," she said, almost choking on the word.

Mike moved his hand over the side of Jessie's face and got her to look over at him. "Johnny will never hit you. Nobody will ever hit you. We get loud sometimes. And we are scared sometimes by our jobs, and it makes us nervous, and we yell because we're nervous. But we will never hurt you, ok?" Jessie nodded and grabbed onto a piece of the t-shirt Paige was wearing.

"I know he yelled," Paige said, "but you need to both apologize."

"I gave them back last night..." Jessie mumbled.

"Wait-" Mike said, "where did you sleep last night?"

Jessie answered slowly. "With Johnny. I tucked him in on the couch 'cause he was crying and he fell asleep. Charlie made him scared like you leaving with your FBI letters makes me scared. I stayed with him and told him it would be ok...and I put the keys in his hand."

Paige felt her eyes starting to water. "And what did he say this morning?"

Before Jessie could answer, there was a small knock on the door.

"Come in," Mike said sarcastically.

"Have you guys heard from Chuck and Briggs? I, umm-"

"They left already," Mike said.

"Was Charlie-?" Johnny asked, trying to be vague.

"They haven't said. We got her up here about an hour after they got back."

Johnny stayed standing in the doorway and pursed his lips. He held up the keys and shook them in his hand. "These magically appeared this morning. It's crazy how that works," he said a bit louder, smiling.

Jessie held onto to Paige tightly and didn't look over at him.

"Did you tuck me in on the couch?" Johnny asked laughing. "My bed is a mess and the whole comforter is on the other side of the room..."

"I didn't want to wake you up," Jessie said. She let her voice carry over to Johnny, but still didn't make eye-contact.

"Thank you for taking care of me," Johnny said. "I didn't deserve it."

"But what do you say?" Paige whispered.

"I'm sorry that I lied about knowing about where you had lost your keys..." she said, twisting her apology a bit.

Johnny snickered. "Where were they?"

"Under your hats!"

"I never put them under my hats..." he said, smirking. "If you have a piece of information that we want, you tell us. It's your job as a CI, you got it?"

"And, you tell us when you're scared so we can help you," Paige said.

"And we won't scream," Mike said, eyeing Johnny, "when we get frustrated."

"I have something to tell you," Paige said to Johnny, "...later." She gestured that she didn't want Jessie to hear they're conversation about her thought that yelling would turn to hitting.

"So should we go make some pancakes or something?" Johnny asked. "I really need a pancake expert's help..."

Jessie picked her head up and finally looked over to him. "I can? Can we make some for Charlie when she gets home?"

"We can see if she will want some," he said. "Come on, let's go chat."

Jessie rolled off of Paige and climbed over Mike to get off the bed, kneeing him in the groin as she tried to move past him. Paige laughed when she saw him squeeze his eyes shut and tuck in his legs.

"She did that to me last night when I had to-" Johnny stopped himself. "That's why I dropped her."

"You dropped her?" Paige asked. "Really?"

"Not like that, P," Johnny said. He was relieved to see Jessie take hold of his hand. "She was upset when she saw-" he stopped himself. He could tell Paige had understood.

"You're getting too big, Jessie," Mike said.

"But I'm still the littlest one in the whole kindergarten!" she said, not understanding what had happened.

"You're still little," Paige said laughing. "Just not _as_ little."

Johnny led Jessie out of the room and Mike was grateful that Johnny shut the door behind them.

"So... a little brother?" Paige asked. She ran her hand down his chest and across his abdomen, leaning over him for a kiss.

"You're going to have to give me a few more minutes," he said shyly.

"She got you good?"

Mike squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. "You want to make it better?" he smirked.

Paige chuckled and slid down under the covers slowly. Mike smiled at the ceiling.

He sat up when he realized that she had moved completely off the bed and was now standing by his feet.

"Pancakes, Mike," she said. "There are pancakes."

He threw the covers off and jumped up, lunging towards her. She tried to make it to the door before him, but he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back to him, kissing her. After a brief moment of eye contact, she let him push her back down onto the bed. He stood over her with a greedy smile.

"See?" Paige said, popping herself up onto her elbows and looking him over, "now you're better."


	14. Christmas Eve Elf Workshop

"Ok, she's going to be busy for a while." Mike walked into the phone room and looked over at Paige, Johnny, and Jakes. "What's our play?"

"What do you mean 'she's busy'?" Paige asked.

"It's a surprise..." Mike said. "I'm sworn to secrecy, but trust me, Jessie won't leave my desk for a few hours."

Paige squinted at him and smiled. "Our play is that you guys wrap all of this stuff while I finish my case paperwork from that heroin bust, and then you put the bike together."

They had been successful over the past two weeks at decorating the tree, making cookies, and doing other stuff that Johnny had deemed "necessary," but they had been procrastinating big time on getting the presents wrapped and organized.

Jakes glanced at the pile of toys and books in middle of the phone room. "Do I look like I'm wearing an elf costume to you? And why didn't you just get one of those bikes that's already put together?"

"That was my bad," Johnny said. "I didn't know these things don't just come like that..."

"I think we can put a bike together, John," Mike said sarcastically. "How hard could it be?"

Paige laughed and crossed her arms. "We'll see..."

The phone room was the one place in Graceland where Jessie was banned from going. They kept weapons and gear there, along with paperwork and images that she knew she wasn't allowed to see. And for the past week, it had been serving as a makeshift North Pole.

Paige had rolls of wrapping paper and pre-written tags that said "From Santa" on them, along with scissors, tape and bows. "Everything's here. Just wrap it and I'll help you carry it all down after she's asleep."

"I told her that I'd go get what Santa left at the FBI office before she wakes up, so, this should work," Mike said.

"Was she still nervous?" Paige asked.

"Not so much," Mike said, "Briggs showed her the 'request paperwork' that Santa sent to the FBI. He made Jessie sign off on it."

"That's hysterical," Jakes said.

"Alright elves," Paige said, clapping her hands and walking to the door. "I'll be back in an hour or two."

"Don't peek in my room! Let her work!" Mike yelled behind her.

Paige shut the door and Johnny turned to Mike. "You didn't buy any of that story, right? Where do you think she's really going?"

"I don't know..." Mike said, "let's just get this done."

"I'll take this pile," Johnny said to Mike. "You start over there. And Jakes, you're the mechanic..."

Jakes sighed and looked over at the box with the picture of the pink two-wheeler on it. "That's fine. I'll be outta here in twenty minutes." He ripped open the top and pulled out the wheels and a piece of the frame. After a few minutes of laying out various pieces he reached for the directions. "Why are these directions in Chinese?" he said, going through the box to try and find another copy in English.

Johnny and Mike smiled at each other as Jakes got more and more flustered by the "twenty minute" time limit he had proposed for himself.

They wrapped until they were surrounded in a pool of paper scraps and tape.

When Paige came back and hour and a half later, she couldn't help but laugh when she peered inside the phone room.

Jakes had a sweat mark down his back, holding half of the bicycle in the air, different sized wrenches and screws littered on the floor.

Johnny was lying on his back to hold the other frame piece, his eyes closed, and Mike was putting bows on the pile of wrapped presents, half of which looked like they had been wrapped by a child. She walked over towards him and did her best to stay silent when she realized that Mike had bows in the shape of a giant smiley face on his back.

"How's Santa's workshop doing? Should I call in the elf tac team for assistance?"

"Next time we get a pre-made bike, P," Jakes said through gritted teeth.

"Is she still in my room?" Mike asked.

"I don't know," Paige snapped. "I'm not allowed to go check."

He stood up and walked over to her. "I'll go see," he said. "You don't want her up here yet, right?"

"We have to carry all this stuff past her door," she said, shaking her head. "Keep her there."

"What are you smiling at?" Mike asked, making a face and smirking back at her, still oblivious to the fact that Johnny had covered his back with gift bows.

Paige bit her bottom lip and raised her eyebrows. "Nothing," she said. "I'll uh, I'll organize this mess."

Mike walked down the stairs to his bedroom and softly knocked on the door before opening it. He peered to the left and saw her sitting up on her knees on his chair, her head resting on her forearm down on the desk, a crayon in her hand as she colored across the paper.

"How's it going?" Mike asked. "It's almost bedtime."

She looked up at him and smiled. "I'm on the last page," she said.

He walked over to her and lifted her up off the chair so he could sit down. She settled in his lap and went back to work.

"Oh this is beautiful," he said to her. He felt something poking at his back when he leaned against the chair and reached behind him. "What the-?" He pulled off a bow and crumpled it up in his hand. "Hold on a second."

He stood up and placed her down in front of him and then turned around, knowing that there were more bows stuck to his t-shirt.

The giggle said it all. "Your back is smiling, Mikey!"

"Who do you think did it?" he asked. He lifted her so that she was standing up on his desk, and he turned around so she could help him get the bows off.

"Johnny..." she said. "Why were you playing with bows?"

"I was wrapping my present for Paige," he said quickly. He turned back around to face her after all the bows were off. "Where do you want to sleep tonight?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

She looked down at her feet. "Well, I have to finish the present..." she mumbled.

"You want to stay here?" he asked, knowing that's exactly what she wanted to do.

She looked up at him. "Where are you sleeping?" she asked. She reached out and put her hands on his shoulders so that he would help her down.

"You want me to stay here too?" he asked. She climbed back up on the chair to get to work on her surprise. "Maybe, just in case... just in case Santa comes. Maybe you should stay here," she said rambling.

"Ok, I'll go steal some paper and a new bow from Johnny so that you can wrap your present, and then it's bedtime. I have to get up early though to go check for presents at the FBI, remember?"

He watched her nod and pick up the pen to continue writing on the papers. "I'll be right back," he said, shutting the door behind him.

When Mike got to the phone room, Paige was wheeling the completed bicycle around the large desk, ribbons hanging from the bars and training wheels perfectly in place. Johnny was snoring on the floor and Jakes had a stack of wrapped gifts in his arms. "Do you have different paper that 'Santa's' not using? Jessie wants to wrap her gift."

"Oh, yeah, that's a good point," Paige said. She reached for a roll of untouched wrapping paper and handed it over to him.

"She's crashing with me. She's still a bit nervous..." He put on his best preppy smile and crossed his arms. "And you're still not allowed in."

"Oh yeah? I see how it is," she said back playfully.

"Go to bed in your own room, Paige," Jakes said, "If you don't use it, we're turning it into a man cave."

"This whole house is a man cave," she retaliated.

"Not anymore..." Johnny said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Oh, did you know he put bows on my back?" Mike asked her.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said lying, "and who said I wanted to sleep in your room anyway?"

He could see the humor through her sass. "Well then, fine," he said, unable to think of a better comeback.

"Ok you two, enough. What time is this going down in the morning?" Johnny asked.

"I'll pretend to leave around 7 or so," Mike said.

Jakes walked out of the phone room with the pile of wrapped presents. "They're going in the closet downstairs," he said. "Ho, ho, ho."

"This is a Santa-free environment, Jakes!" Johnny called out, following behind him.

"Care to explain where you ran off to this evening?" Mike asked, running his index finger down the side of Paige's arm.

"I told you," she said. "I was filling out paperwork."

"For a case that ended a week ago? You'd never let that get pushed back this far."

"Well, maybe I've been a bit distracted."

He smiled down at her and lifted her chin up, planting a soft kiss on her lips.


	15. A Christmas Story

Curled up with her purple blanket in Mike's bed, Jessie's eyes popped open when she heard a small knock on the door. She knew it was early in the morning, and she flipped her head to wake up Mike, but she realized he was gone. Before she had time to think about what to do, the door slowly opened and Charlie peeked her head inside.

"Good morning," Charlie said. She was holding two mugs and wearing an oversized sweater. Jessie waved back at her. She hadn't seen much of Charlie over the past few weeks. Briggs, Paige and Mike had sat Jessie down to explain that Charlie wouldn't be having a baby anymore, but Jessie had noticed the change in Charlie's emotions.

"You want to come to my room and have some hot chocolate? It was a Christmas morning tradition in my house." Jessie nodded and climbed off the bed, keeping the blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

"Shhhh," Charlie said. Jessie tiptoed behind her across the loft space to the woman's room. "I added your favorite," Charlie said.

"Marshmallows?!" Jessie whispered excitedly.

"Yep." Charlie carefully climbed onto her bed and placed the mugs down on the nightstand. She pulled Jessie up onto her lap and helped her with the drink so she wouldn't spill it on the bed.

"I haven't done this in a long time," Charlie told her. "Are you excited?"

Jessie grinned as she drank.

"You think he left some?" Jessie asked.

"I know he probably left double the presents."

"Are you excited for your presents?" Jessie asked her back.

"I'm getting presents?!"

Jessie nodded and giggled as Charlie tickled her sides.

"Who did you used to have hot chocolate with?" Jessie asked.

"With my mom." Charlie ran her hand through Jessie's hair. "And we would have a real wintery Christmas... go ice skating, and sled, and build a snowman."

"Like Olaf?"

"Yes, kind of like Olaf. But we don't get any snow out here in California. That was back in NY."

They heard a door slam below them and Jessie looked up to Charlie. "Is he back?!"

Charlie's eyes got wide, "Should we go wake everyone up?"

Jessie handed her the empty mug and slid down off the bed. She waited for Charlie to stand up, and she gently took hold of the woman's hand.

Paige's room was empty and Charlie knew she had probably gone downstairs to make sure everything was ready.

"Who else will be excited about presents?" Charlie whispered.

Jessie pulled her diagonally across the space and slowly opened Johnny's door. She looked up at Charlie when she realized he was still asleep.

"Jump," Charlie said. Jessie didn't need to hear it twice. She climbed up on his bed and started bouncing next to him.

"Oh you can do better than that," Charlie told her. Jessie smiled and tried to get higher in the air.

"Stop..."

Jessie halted and quickly sat down on the bed when she heard him.

"Merry Christmas, Johnny," Charlie said, leaning against the doorframe.

"Did I miss presents?" Johnny asked. He looked up at Jessie.

"Mike's home, but we didn't go downstairs yet," Jessie explained.

"We're waiting a few more minutes I think..." Charlie added.

"Oh, well then in that case-" Johnny stood on the bed and pulled Jessie up, taking her hands in his. "You can't out-jump me, fool."

She looked to Charlie for approval before jumping with Johnny on his bed. They lasted a few minutes and the laughter became contagious between the three of them.

"I did this to Mike one time when he was still new here!" Johnny told her, starting to get out-of-breath.

"Mike was new?" she asked.

"Yep, he was the new guy, and then a year and a half later, you were the new guy."

"I'm a new guy?"

"You're better than a new guy," Charlie added. "You don't mess with my cases."

"Funny, Chuck," Johnny said.

"What is going on in here?!" Paige moved passed Charlie into Johnny's room.

"Merry Christmas, P!" Johnny said.

Paige put her hands out and Jessie slid off the bed and ran over to the woman. "Are you ready to go see?" Paige asked. "I think Mike organized everything that he found this morning."

Jessie nodded and held Paige's hand, walking with them out of his room, but she took a step back when they reached the top of the stairs.

Jessie made the three of them walk ahead of her and as she got to the last part of the staircase, she froze. She had never seen the living room like that before. There were so many boxes with different colored paper all piled on top of each other.

Briggs, Jakes and Mike were seated on the couch with coffee, proud of their work.

"It was so much stuff, I had to pack some in the back of the car!" Mike said to her. Jessie still wouldn't budge.

Paige walked back to the stairs and picked up the little girl, carrying her over to everyone.

"It's all from- from him?" Jessie asked.

"Some of it's from us," Mike said, "but a lot of it is from him!"

"It says it on the tags," Jakes said, remembering his late night wrapping escapades.

"Here," Paige said. She handed Jessie a box and the girl delicately ripped at the paper from the corner.

"Oh, this is going to take forever," Johnny said laughing. "Let me show you how it's done." He picked up one of the wrapped books and looked up at Jessie. "May I?" he asked. She nodded and watched him rip the paper to shreds in seconds. "It's so much more fun that way."

Jessie yanked a bigger piece of paper off and looked back to Johnny for approval.

"That's better," he said. "Keep going. What is it?!"

"A helmet!" she said. "I need a helmet for the Orange Truck?"

"No," Paige said, "you will never go in that truck."

Jessie snuck a look over to Briggs and caught his wink back to her. "What _else_ might you need a helmet for?" Briggs asked her.

Jessie looked around and gasped when she saw it over by the chore wheel. "A bike?! Like the kids at school have?!"

"And what's next to that bike?" Jakes asked her.

Jessie's jaw dropped. She scooted off the couch and slowly crept over to the wall to see what was leaning up against the side of the fireplace. "It's- it's for me? By myself?" She reached out and gingerly touched the surfboard.

"You can do it," Johnny said. "In the mornings before school we can practice, ok?"

Jessie looked back to the six of them and nodded shyly.

"Ok, kid," Briggs said looking around at all the boxes. "We've got work to do."

After twenty minutes of opening, Jessie had discovered books, movies, clothes and a new FBI shirt (that actually fit her) in the presents from Santa.

She was enjoying the morning, but loved watching her housemates open up their presents from each other even more.

She had climbed up next to Mike when she learned what Paige had gotten him, a framed collage of his grandfather's photography.

When it seemed as though everyone was finished opening gifts, Jessie tugged on Mike's sleeve. "Can we show them now?" she asked.

Mike smiled at her. "It's wrapped on the table over there," he told her. "Go get it."

Jessie walked over to the table and handed the gift to Paige. "For me?!" Paige asked her.

"Yes, for you and everyone," Jessie said. "Mike helped."

Paige opened the thin package and realized that it was a book that Jessie had designed. The cover had a picture of a dog on it and the title read " _The Great Adventure Of The Little Puppy"._ She wrote "By: Jessie Barone" across the bottom.

"Can you read it out loud to us?" Paige asked. Jessie nodded and stood up so that she was facing all of them on the couch. She looked at Mike, who nodded for encouragement, and then slowly opened the cover and took a breath.

"Once upon a time, there was a little puppy who lived with a mommy dog and a daddy dog. They played together at their house." Jessie held the book up so that they could all see the picture. She flipped the page and took a breath. "One day, the mommy dog got sick and she didn't live at the house with the little puppy anymore."

Paige grabbed Mike's leg with one hand and covered her mouth with the other.

"The daddy dog was sad and angry and he was mean to the little puppy." Jessie took her time to flip the page and went on reading. "He told the little puppy that he needed money, so he went to work with the wolves. The little puppy was scared when all the wolves were at her house, but she got a new dog friend from far away."

Jessie stopped when she realized how quiet her audience was. "Keep going, kiddo," Briggs said. "We love it."

Jessie smiled and turned the page, showing them the next picture in the process. "The nice dog from far away played with the puppy all the time, and they kept each other safe from the wolves." When Jessie saw what the next page was, she had a little frown.

"But the meanest wolf came and took the nice dog away, and he hurt the little puppy. The puppy was sad because she couldn't help her friend. The puppy saw the wolves fight with each other. She didn't come out of her little puppy house for a long time."

"That sounds like a really brave puppy," Jakes said. Jessie flashed her eyes up at him and smiled.

She flipped the page once more and kept reading. "One day, big dogs came to clean up the puppy's house where she was hiding, and the puppy was scared. The big dogs found her and took her away. They wanted the little puppy to bark and eat and play, but she was too scared in a new place with no puppy friends."

Charlie was using the sleeve of pajama shirt to blot at her eyes. Jessie held up the next page and the agents immediately recognized the picture as her version of Graceland.

"The puppy was taken to a special brand new house where the wolves can't ever go. The house had nice dogs that could take care of the little puppy. They were all different kinds of dogs, and they loved each other. The little puppy was tired and hungry and dirty, but the dogs helped her not be scared. They played with the little puppy and got her clean and made her better. The puppy learned not to be afraid and she didn't see anymore wolves or bad dogs."

Jessie's voice cracked a bit when she flipped to the final page in her story. "The little puppy liked her new doggie house and grew up from a little puppy to a big dog like them because she loved them all so much. The end."

Jessie shut the book and walked over to Paige. "Why are you crying?" Jessie asked her, "Did it make you sad?"

The little girl put the book down on the table and put her hands on Paige's knees. The agent scooped her up and sat Jessie on her lap. "I'm crying because I loved your present. The story is perfect." Paige kissed her cheek and hugged her tightly. "Thank you," Paige said softly. "I love it; and I love you too."

"You did that all by yourself?" Johnny asked her, feeling his own eyes getting watery.

Jessie nodded. "And Mike helped with the pages," she said.

"Hey Jessie," Jakes said, "I think there's one more present under there. Do you see it? Hiding in the back? Maybe it got stuck somehow..." Paige put her down and encouraged her to go get it. Jessie laid on her belly by the tree, reaching for the present. She pulled it out from under the branches and read the tag carefully. She looked up at them with a puzzled expression. "Santa's wrong," she said. "It says it's for Joe! Who's that?"

"Me," Johnny said. "That's my real name."

"Really?" Jessie asked. "But you're Johnny."

"I'm just Johnny at- wait," he said, "it says it's from Santa?"

Jessie looked at the tag again and nodded. Johnny looked around at his housemates, trying to figure out who planted the gift, but Mike, Paige, Jakes, Charlie and Briggs all played dumb.

"Open it!" Jessie said excitedly. She walked the present over to Johnny and put it in his hands. He inspected the tag himself, trying to evaluate the handwriting, but it was in a style that was unfamiliar to him. The box was about a foot long and he shook it, listening to try and figure out its contents.

"Just open it!" Jessie exclaimed. "I want to see what Santa got you!"

Johnny ripped through the paper and threw his head back laughing when he realized what it was: a Navy Seal toy boat loaded with action figures and little fighting pieces. The box was clearly from the 80s; Johnny remembered wanting that exact set as a kid.

"How did you-?" Johnny looked at all of his housemates again, but no one gave any indication that they had been behind the surprise.

"Santa kept it for you?!" Jessie asked, examining all of the pictures on the side of the box.

"Yeah, he kept it special. Wanna play Navy Seals later?" he asked her. Jessie nodded and smiled, "It comes with seals?"

Johnny chuckled. "No, that's what you call these guys."

"Oh," she said, "ok." Jessie noticed that Paige was going through the book that she had made for her. She walked back over to the woman and climbed up on the couch to cuddle in her lap. "Johnny must have been a really good boy if Santa kept his present for a long time," Jessie said to them.

"I guess so," Jakes said grinning.

"You ready to go try out your new board?" Briggs asked her.

Jessie squirmed a bit and squinted her eyes at him.

"Not completely by yourself..." Briggs said. "You're still not allowed to be out there without one of us."

"Come on," Charlie said, standing up. "We'll all go."

"Everybody can surf next to me too?" Jessie asked, still a bit nervous about being on her own board. "Even Mike?"

Mike lightly swatted at Jessie's arm. "Yes, even Mike," he said. "I'm not that terrible."

"Charlie and I will take some pictures from the beach, ok?" Paige said. "The boys will all go surf with you."

"Go get your wetsuit," Jakes said. Jessie smiled at him and jumped off of Paige's lap, running up the stairs to her room to find the wetsuit.

Paige held up the book that Jessie had made. "This," Paige said, "this is the most perfect thing I think I've ever received...that we've ever received." She turned her head towards Mike and sincerely thanked him.

"I loved being able to help," he said. "It was mostly her idea though." He leaned in to kiss her and she locked her hands behind his neck, keeping him close.

"Hey, Levi," Jakes said, standing up. He grabbed a small pillow from the couch and threw it at Mike and Paige. "Go get your wetsuit."

"You know what seeing you in that suit does to me," Paige whispered in his ear, trying not to blush.

Mike pulled back and winked at her. "Merry Christmas."


	16. Late Nights Off

**This is a bit different. Inspired by... true events.**

* * *

"Hit me again, Chuck!" Johnny screamed, slamming his shot glass down onto the island in the kitchen. "P, you good for another?"

"I've already had four. This shit is disgusting. I can't go again," she said, shaking her head with a grimace.

"Give me it," Mike said, a bit too seriously. He motioned for Charlie to hand him Paige's shot.

"You sure, Mikey?" Charlie asked, smirking at him.

"It's our night off!" Johnny yelled at her. "Our _first_ night off! We need to go hard tonight, Chuck!" He picked up his shot of zombie virus as if he were giving a toast. "Thank you, Jessie's friend from school's mom, for hosting a sleepover birthday party, so I can get shit-faced and tap some fine ass!"

Paige laughed in his face. "Johnny, you know you can go out and do whatever the hell you want most nights."

Johnny gaped at her and then threw back the drink. He quickly shook his head, reacting to the taste, and then slammed the glass down once more. "I know, P," he said, pointing his index finger at her. "But this just... feels different. We're like bachelors." He was starting to slur his words. Paige and Charlie knew this wasn't going to end well.

Paige caught Mike downing both of the shots in front of him and she noticed him grab the side of the counter to balance himself. "And you're going out to The Drop with him?" Paige questioned.

Mike rolled his eyes and reached down to move his hand across her ass. "We'll be just fine..." he slurred. "What could go wrong?"

Charlie and Paige laughed loudly in unison. "Darts are off limits this time," Paige said, looking back and forth between Mike and Johnny. "Promise me."

"P, you trust us to run back-up on ops with automatics, but we can't play darts?!"

"Hell, no. Not like this you can't!" she yelled.

"No darts," Mike said, holding up one hand. He placed his other hand over his heart. "Scout's honor." He leaned down to Paige with his eyes closed, waiting for a kiss. She obliged, but then slid her hand up the inside of his leg and grabbed him. "Don't do anything stupid," she said clearly in his ear. Mike backed away from her and smiled.

"And let us know when you get back here," Charlie said. Johnny was already grabbing his house key. After taking a final shot of zombie virus, the boys made their way out of the house and down the stairs to the beach.

Right after hearing the door shut, Charlie and Paige clinked their glasses together, celebrating the fact that they now had the whole house to themselves. "Plans?" Paige asked.

"I'm taking a long, hot bath," Charlie said slowly. "I'm no fun anymore..."

"I'm gonna kill this bottle and watch that movie Briggs got," Paige told her.

"You waiting down here in case...?"

"Yeah, I don't know if she'll make it through the night," Paige confessed.

"You nervous?!" Charlie said, poking fun at her. "It's only one night, Paige. The kid will be fine. And Jakes said he'll swing by and grab her if she wants to leave and come back here. So..."

"I know; I know," she said smiling. "It just feels so weird." Paige grabbed the bottle of wine and moved away from the kitchen, falling back onto the couch and kicking up her feet to enjoy her night off.

* * *

"Paige... Paige. Paige!" Mike tapped the woman's arm as she slept on the couch in the living room. At least, he thought he was tapping her.

Paige shivered and then realized what was happening. "Mike! Stop hitting me!" she yelled.

She leaned away from him and squinted up to see what the problem was. He stood in front of her, swaying back and forth with his eyes glazed.

"No darts," he announced, pleased with himself.

"What time is it? Where's Johnny?" she asked groggily.

Mike sat down next to her on the couch and fell back hard into the cushions. "It's like 3, Paige. He went back to some girl's place."

Paige had never seen Mike this drunk before, and he reeked of... "What's all over you?!" she asked. She reached out to feel the front of his shirt. "You're soaking!" She pushed herself up and stood a few steps away from him, putting out her hand to him to see if he would follow her. As if on purpose, he leaned the opposite way and fell sideways onto the couch, his head on blanket she had been using.

"Mike, I'm not leaving you here like this," she said, crossing her arms. "Come on, let's go!"

He looked over to her and grinned. After a few seconds, he sat upright and used the coffee table to help himself stand up. When he got to Paige, she hooked her arm around his ribcage and let him lean down onto her shoulders. "Upstairs," she commanded.

They made it to the first landing of the staircase and he quickly withdrew his arm. He looked puzzled for a moment and then forced her back against the wall, taking her completely by surprise. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and stared deeply into her eyes, frozen.

"Mike...?" Paige asked, taken aback by his sudden changes in attitude.

"Why?" he asked.

"Why what?" she questioned, trying not to laugh at him.

"Why... are there four of you?"

"Upstairs," she said plainly. Paige got him to let go of her so that she could lead him the rest of the way.

When they got to his room, Mike sat down on the edge of the bed and went limp. Paige smiled at how vulnerable he was; he was in rare form. She was pissed that he let himself drink this much, but maybe he really did need a night to just let loose.

She grabbed the bottom hem of his shirt and pulled it up quickly over his head, sliding it down off his arms and throwing it into the corner. His chest still gave off a pungent smell of vodka, but she had no intention of trying to get him in a shower. She went through his dresser drawer for a shirt and, with no help from him, managed to get it on him properly.

She squatted down and moved his head so that it was lying on her shoulder. She lifted him up onto his feet and got him to walk with her to the top of the bed. She turned down the blanket and let him fall back onto the mattress.

"Do you feel like you're going to be sick?" she asked him, wondering if it was a good idea to put him to bed.

"I'll lay on my side," he mumbled. She was about to leave him, when she noticed him tap the spot next to him on the bed. "Here," he said.

"You want me to stay with you, smelly?" she asked playfully.

Mike hummed a yes and Paige reluctantly got into the bed with him. Mike grabbed her hand and held her palm close to his chest, trying to keep himself from getting dizzy.

"How?" he asked.

Paige snickered at his one-word question again. "How what, Mike?" she asked with a dry tone.

"How... do we fit?"

"Fit where?"

"Here."

"At Graceland?"

"No. On the couch. We don't fit on the couch like this."

Paige moved her hand back and forth across his chest, sliding closer to him. "We're not on the couch, Mike. We're in your bed."

"Oh..." he said. After a few minutes of silence, she thought he had finally gone to sleep. But out of nowhere, she felt him reach back and quickly slide his hand under her. In one swift motion, he lifted her over so that she was lying on top of him, kissing her before she had a chance to realize what had happened. Her knees fell to the mattress in between his thighs, and she pulled her head back to stop him from continuing to kiss her.

With both of her hands on his shoulders, she tried to get his attention. "Mike. Go to sleep." She rolled back off of him and curled up into the blankets.

"And I thought I wasn't putting a kid to bed tonight..." she whispered.


	17. Midday Pick-Up

Mike tapped his pencil against the desk in the cubicle in the FBI office. His meeting had already been postponed that morning, and now the advisor on his new case was running behind once again, leaving Mike to feel as though his afternoon was being wasted. Mike's cell buzzed on the desk and his demeanor changed when he saw that it was Jessie's elementary school calling.

"Hello?"

"Is this Mike Barone? I'm the school nurse and I have Jessie here. We tried to call the number listed, but there was no answer, and she recited this one for me to try. We have a policy about who can pick up students from school- I'm sorry, I'm rambling and-"

"Is she ok?!" Mike asked, cutting the woman off. He stood up and walked away from the desk towards the hall. Did Jessie tell her he was her uncle? Did the woman just assume?

"Oh, yes, well... she has a fever and she didn't want to leave class, but it's our policy that anyone who could be contagious..."

"Contagious with what?!" Mike asked harshly, a list of possible scenarios racking through his brain.

"Oh, Mr. Barone, it's just a fever. It might be early stages of the flu, but, she's five. Surely she's been ill before. These kinds of things turn around in a few days."

"The flu?" Mike said, calming his voice. "Yeah, yeah, it's common, ok."

"But like I said, we need someone to come pick her up. This number isn't listed here, and she's only supposed to leave campus with listed contacts, but she knew this number and told me your name."

"She told you to call Mike Barone?" Mike asked, clarifying.

"Yes, and we need you to-"

"Of course," he said, reaching for his keys. "I've met with her teacher before. Can I... can I talk to Jessie for a moment?"

"One second," she said. Mike waited until he heard the phone get passed over.

A small voice crept onto the line. "Hello?"

"Hey, Jessie," Mike said sweetly. "I'll be there in a fifteen minutes."

"Mhmm," Jessie said softly, "I tried to call Paige, but she didn't answer and I told her Mike, but she didn't know..."

"Shhhh," Mike said to her, "Just don't say anything else until I get there, ok? I'll take care of it."

"Ok," she said. "I feel weird."

"I know you do," he said. He wasn't really sure how to respond to her. "I'll see you soon, ok? We'll fix it."

"Bye." He could hear that the phone was being passed to someone else.

"Mr. Barone?" the woman asked. Mike decided it wasn't worth correcting her. If she thought he was family, maybe he could legally sign her out of school without being listed on the form, something he made a mental note to correct in the future.

"I'll be there to get her in about fifteen minutes."

The woman hung up and Mike drove out of the parking lot, headed for the school. He knew Paige was under and didn't have her phone. What the hell was he supposed to do? Jessie had never been sick before. He hit the call button on the dashboard and told the voice command in the car to call Charlie.

"Mike?! You ok?" Charlie asked confused, knowing that he was supposed to be at a meeting.

"Hey! Jessie's school just called. She's sick. I'm on my way to get her. What time are you getting back to the house?"

"Late tonight. Is she ok?"

"She sounded pretty out of it on the phone. But Charlie, what am I supposed to do with her?"

"Really, Mike?" Charlie asked, trying to suppress a laugh. "Make her drink juice and give her some of that children's tylenol. Let her sleep and make sure she doesn't puke all over the place."

"We have medicine for her?"

"Yeah, it's in the cabinets in the kitchen. It's been there for months, just in case."

"How much do I-?"

"Just read the box, Mike. You'll be fine. Call me if you have any problems."

"Thanks, Charlie."

Mike took advantage of his status to swerve around other drivers on the highway, getting to the school faster than he had expected.

He quickly got out of his car and made his way to the sign-in desk at the front of the lobby, writing in the book sloppily so that his last name was illegible. The secretary gave him a visitor pass and pointed the way to the nurse's office.

When he got to the marked room, he knocked and slowly pushed the door open.

His eyes quickly scanned the space, finding Jessie curled up on a chair almost instantly.

"Jessie?" Mike asked gently. The woman behind the desk came over to him, introducing herself. Mike just introduced himself as "Mike" and focused his attention on the little girl. He reached down to her and lifted her off the chair. She latched her hands behind his neck, and he could immediately tell that she felt hot.

"Thanks again for coming to get her," the nurse said.

Mike gave her a pleasant smile. "Of course," he said. He took a step back and grabbed Jessie's backpack off of the floor. "I think I just need to get her home."

"Feel better, Jessie," the woman said. Mike stepped back into the hall, feeling relieved that they were going to let him sign her out without waiting for an ok from Paige first, and walked back to the lobby.

"Mikeyyyy," Jessie whispered in his ear. "What's happening to me?"

"Shhh," he said, returning his visitor pass to the desk. "You're gonna be ok. Do you ever remember being sick before?"

"Nope..." she said, anxiety creeping into her voice.

"Alright," he said, walking out of the building. He rubbed circles on her back as he walked to the car and then carefully sat her in the backseat, helping her with the seatbelt.

Mike ran through the checklist of things that Charlie had mentioned earlier as he drove. "Jessie?" he asked, glancing at her through the rearview mirror to get her attention. "Does your stomach feel sick? Do you think you might puke?"

Jessie looked up at him pitifully and shrugged her shoulders.

He debated asking her the other big question. "So, why did you call me Mike Barone?"

Jessie looked nervous. "She- she said I had to call family. I'm sorry I lied..."

"No, it's ok..." Mike said, exhaling. "We'll make sure all 6 of us are on there."

Mike drove a bit faster and felt relieved when they made it back to Graceland. He got out of the car and walked around to the other side, opening the back passenger door where Jessie was. She pulled the seatbelt off and turned to face him, but as she slid down off the seat, she took in a large breath of air.

Not understanding how she felt, the little girl wasn't able to stop the nausea in her stomach. She paused and then threw her body forward, hurling. The vomit hit Mike's feet, covering his shoes before he had time to react and jump back.

He kicked off his shoes and abandoned them in the driveway. After checking that she didn't have any puke on her (and that she wasn't going to vomit again), he lifted her up once more and brought her inside the house, wincing as he felt her bury her face in his shoulder. He tried his best to ignore the stench, along with the feeling that some of the puke may have made it to his toes.


	18. The M Word

Once Mike had cleaned Jessie's face (and hosed off his own feet on the deck), he helped her drink the tylenol and a glass of gatorade. She had never tasted the medicine before, so she drank it willingly, but based on her reaction to the stuff, Mike knew that getting her to drink it again would be more of a struggle.

He headed for the stairs to let her sleep in her own room. He helped her change into pajamas and made sure she was holding the purple blanket before leaving her to rest. Not wanting to be too far away from her though, he got his laptop and worked in the phone room so that he could hear her if she needed him.

Mike had texted Paige to let her know that Jessie was sick, and when the agent made it back to Graceland, she went directly up to the third floor. Paige watched Jessie sleep for a few minutes and then popped her head into the phone room to check-in with Mike.

"What happened?" Paige asked him, leaning against the door frame.

"School called me after they couldn't get ahold of you. My name wasn't on the form, so the kid improvised."

"No, I mean... why are there gross shoes in the middle of the driveway?" she asked smiling.

"Ahhhh, well, at least it didn't get in the car. I gave her the tylenol like Charlie said to do, and now she's sleeping it off."

"How high is her fever?" Paige asked him.

Mike's eyes widened. "I don't know. Was I supposed to figure that out?"

Paige snickered. "I'll take care of it. How was she when you got her?"

"She was... she was a different kind of scared, Paige." Mike walked over to her. "I don't think she ever remembers being sick. Definitely doesn't remember ever throwing up before. The exhaustion freaked her out a bit. She was confused about what was happening to her."

Paige ran her hand through Mike's hair. "Another first time experience..."

"Paige?" The little voice got the woman's attention.

Jessie was standing in the hallway with the purple blanket wrapped around her shoulders, calling out to the woman. Paige and Mike both looked over to her.

"Hey, you feeling better?" Paige asked.

Jessie shrugged her shoulders and moved closer.

"I'm c-cold," she muttered.

Jessie dragged her feet over to them and leaned up against Paige's leg, prompting the woman to lift her up.

Paige pressed her cheek against Jessie's forehead and knew that the fever was still high. "Let's go see how hot you are," Paige said softly.

"But I'm not hot," Jessie mumbled, tucking her head down onto Paige shoulder. "I'm cold."

"I know," Paige said, kissing her forehead. She walked into the small bathroom and Mike followed close behind.

"I think it's in here actually..." Paige said, looking for the thermometer. Mike helped her check the cabinet.

"Why are we in the bathroom?" Jessie asked. "Can we go to the couch now?"

"Knew it!" Paige said to herself. She grabbed the box and sat Jessie down on the counter.

Paige attempted to rest the thermometer in the girl's ear, but Jessie twisted her head away, unsure of what was happening. Mike sighed playfully and scooped her up, holding her so that the side of her face was pressed up against his chest, making it easy for Paige to take her temperature.

"102.8."

"That's high," Mike said. "It shouldn't be that high; I gave her that stuff two hours ago..."

"Does your throat hurt?" Paige asked her.

"No."

"Do your ears hurt?"

"No."

"Should we take her somewhere?" Mike whispered to Paige.

"No," Jessie said up to him, "just to the couch."

Mike laughed at her. "You don't want your bed?"

Jessie shook her head and cuddled back into his chest. Mike wrapped his arm around her and held her close. "Are you going to puke again?"

"No," she said curtly.

Mike caved and carried her to the living room, sitting down with Jessie in his lap. Paige brought over a glass of juice and they made her drink it all before letting her lie down. Jessie used Mike's leg as a pillow and was very content to go back to sleep now that she knew they were both there.

Within the hour, the rest of the agents to had made it back to Graceland, each one learning why Mike was a no-show at his meeting with his new case advisor, and hearing about his need for new shoes.

Briggs brought home take-out Chinese food and Johnny grabbed a six-pack out of the fridge, setting it on the kitchen table. Mike carefully stood up without waking Jessie and joined them all for dinner.

"But like, P, what are we going to do tomorrow?" Johnny asked, taking two big scoops of rice for himself. "We made it through the two weeks at Christmas, and then she's back in school for a few days, and now she's home again?" He put the spoon back and popped the cap off of a beer.

"I'll stay here in the morning," Briggs said. "We'll get it sorted, JT."

"I can't get sick this week," Charlie said. "I hope this is just one of those 24-hour things."

"She seemed normal when I dropped her off this morning," Jakes said, reaching for another egg roll.

"Well, she was pretty dazed," Mike added, "but she did manage to lie to the nurse so that they'd let me take her."

Briggs threw Mike a confused look and Mike took a breath. "She told them I was Mike Barone," he whispered. "She's never done that before. I didn't know what to say to her about it."

"Kid needs a new name," Jakes said simply, eyeing Paige. "It's easy to use cute little lies with her right now, but as she gets older and she learns the weight that name holds... and that her name is different than yours... it's not going to be fun."

"Jessie Arkin?" Charlie asked. "Would that happen?"

"When her father lost his parental rights, I was granted custody, so... I guess. Yeah, she could," Paige said, working through her thoughts out loud.

"Nooo!" Jessie yelled, twisting on the couch in her sleep.

All six of them snapped their heads to the living room, Mike and Johnny popping up to their feet on instinct.

"Is she still asleep?" Jakes asked. "She hasn't had a nightmare in months."

"Fevers create vivid dreams," Briggs said, gesturing for Mike and Johnny to sit back down. "Give it a minute. She'll be fine."

Relieved that Jessie seemed settled again, they finished off the rest of the take-out and the beer.

"So like, how much puke are we actually talking, Mikey?" Johnny asked, laughing and shaking his head.

"Enough to feel it in-between my toes, John," Mike said with a smirk.

"Ohhhhhhh," Jakes said, leaning back and waving his hands at Mike to get him to stop talking. "I'm eating, Levi, enough."

"Wait - shhh" Paige said, cutting him off. "Listen."

Jessie had started to talk in her sleep again. "No! Mo- mommy."

"Did she- did she just say the M word?" Johnny asked.

"She's never..." Paige said quietly.

They could hear that the little girl was crying now. "Mommy!" she yelled again, more clearly this time. Paige moved quickly to the living room and placed her hand on Jessie's forehead.

"Hey," Paige said soothingly, "Jessie, wake up, sweetheart."

"She's on fire," Paige said over to them.

"I'll get you a cool washcloth," Charlie said.

"Mommy?" Jessie pleaded, her eyes still shut tight. Charlie brought over the cold cloth and placed it on the girl's head. Jakes, Briggs, Mike, Johnny were now all standing at the back of the living room, watching how Paige handled the situation.

Jessie shook her head and started coughing, continuing to ask for her mother in her sleep.

"Paige," Mike said. She looked back at him and he nodded.

Paige lifted the girl into her arms and removed the blanket she had been wrapped in. "Right here," Paige said. "I'm right here."

"Mommy..." Jessie whined again.

"I've got you," Paige repeated. She looked back at her housemates, searching for their approval and rocking Jessie in her arms.

Jessie's eyes shot open and it took her a few seconds to realize what was going on. "You're ok," Paige said to her, trying to calm her down.

Jessie noticed that everyone was home now, watching her in the living room.

"You need to drink more medicine and then we're going to take a cool shower," Paige said quietly. She walked her into the kitchen and Mike grabbed the liquid tylenol.

"I don't want to do a shot," Jessie said.

"A shot?" Paige asked.

"The little cup," Jessie clarified. "Like Johnny drinks before he goes out at night."

Johnny laughed at her. "You were taking shots before without me?!" he asked, pretending to be offended.

Jessie nodded but tucked her head away into Paige's shoulder.

"How about we take a shot together?" Johnny suggested. "You take a shot of what Mike gives you and I'll take a shot of my drink. Deal?"

Jessie glanced at him and Mike poured her the correct dosage of medicine, while Johnny grabbed a shot glass and filled it with some beer. "Ready?" Johnny asked her. Jessie shook her head, not wanting to hold the cup yet.

"Juice," Jessie said.

"Oh, we need a chaser..." Johnny said. He got two bigger cups and filled them with juice. "Ok, now we're ready."

Paige moved Jessie so that the girl was sitting on her hip and then handed her the cup of medicine. Johnny counted to three and tossed back the shot of beer, eyeing Jessie as she successfully drank all of the red liquid in the little plastic cup. Paige held the heavier glass of juice for her and helped her drink it as a chaser.

"Good round," Johnny said, holding out his fist. Jessie reached out to fist bump him and then laid her head back down on Paige's shoulder.

"Hey Jessie?" Mike asked, getting her attention. "Do you remember what your dream was about?"

Jessie grabbed onto a piece of Paige's shirt. "What dream?" she asked.

"You don't remember saying anything on the couch before?" Paige asked. Jessie shook her head.

"What did I say?" she asked.

"Nothing, sweetheart," Paige told her. "Let's go upstairs, ok?"

The five remaining housemates waited for Paige to be out of sight and then sighed in unison.

"I don't think Paige is ready for Jessie to be Jessie Arkin," Charlie said.

Mike took a long swig of his beer and glanced down at the floor. "No. But how do you think she'd feel about Jessie Warren?"


	19. The Birthday Dilemma

"JESSIE! NO!"

Paige turned around at the bar in The Drop just in time to see Jessie, who was situated up on Briggs' shoulders, aim a dart at the bullseye on the wall. The little girl threw the dart with all of her might, but it fell about three feet short and plunged into the floorboard.

"Get closer so she can hit it!" Johnny told Briggs, grabbing a beer off the table.

Paige quickly walked over to Briggs and grabbed the next dart out of his hand before he could pass it up to Jessie.

"I know you're excited to be out of the house for the first time in days, and I'm glad you're feeling better, but no more darts," Paige said, looking up at her. Jessie rested her chin down on the top of Briggs' head.

"Go get another drink, P," Johnny said, smiling and holding up his glass.

"Paige, it's two in the afternoon," Briggs said. "No one's over here. Let her play."

"When's he coming?" Jessie asked.

"Soon," Paige said, not giving back the dart. "Mike will be here soon. Are you ready to tell him happy birthday?"

"How old is he now?!" Jessie asked.

"28," Johnny said, shaking his head. "He's still a kid."

"Mikey's not a kid!" Jessie said, sitting up tall on Briggs' shoulders.

"He's the youngest besides you!" Johnny laughed.

Charlie and Jakes would be there with Mike any minute. It wasn't a real party by any means, but after a chaotic week of juggling schedules and new cases, they didn't want to forget Mike's birthday.

Briggs reached up and lifted Jessie off his shoulders, setting her down on the floor in front of him. "Another round?" he asked her. She took his hand and walked over to the bar with him, climbing up onto one of the wooden stools.

The bartender grinned at him. "I didn't know you had a kid, Paul," he said.

"What kid?" Briggs said laughing. Jessie smiled up at him and then graciously took the glass of soda, excited to see that it had a little lemon wedge on the side just like Paige's drink did.

Jessie looked across at the other side of the bar at some men watching a game on the TV. One man adjusted his cap and caught her eye. Jessie stared at him for a few moments and then felt her stomach turn. She gasped and jumped down off the stool, leaving her drink behind, and ran over to Paige and Johnny who were now seated at the booth in the corner.

"I need to hide now," Jessie said, sliding into the booth next to Paige.

"It's not a surprise party, remember?" Paige asked. Jessie's expression didn't change.

"Mike already knows we're at The Drop," Johnny said slowly. "He just parked the car a minute ago. He'll be here soon with Charlie and Jakes."

Jessie glanced quickly over her shoulder and then slid down off of the seat, sitting on the floor under the table with her legs pulled up to her chest.

"Or... we can make it a surprise party..." Johnny said. He and Paige exchanged some confused glances.

Briggs walked over with his beer, standing at the end of the table. Jessie eyed his feet.

"What did you do?" Paige asked him, gesturing down at the table. Briggs shrugged his shoulders.

"I see how it is, Jessie," Briggs said, trying to be playful. "You use me for the darts and the drinks and then you ditch me?"

Paige was relieved to see Mike, Charlie, and Jakes walk through the front door.

"Look, Jessie! He's coming!" Paige said. "You ready to say happy birthday?!"

Paige caught Mike's eye and held up her hand, counting on her fingers as they said "1... 2... 3!" to give him a clue about what was happening.

"Happy birthday!" Paige, Johnny and Briggs yelled.

"Hey, Jessie!" Johnny said, peeking his head under the table. "That's the part where you come out for the surprise!"

Johnny's expression changed when he saw that Jessie's face was tucked down into her knees.

"Ummm, P?" he asked.

"What's going on?" Charlie asked, sitting down across from Paige.

"I don't know..." Paige said. She tried to pull Jessie up from underneath the table, but the girl twisted away from her grasp. "I'll let you play darts with Mike," Paige coaxed.

"No, I'm hiding," Jessie mumbled.

"You can hide up here next to me," Paige said. She locked her hands around Jessie's sides and pulled her back up onto the bench seat in the booth. Mike sat next to Paige and tried to get Jessie's attention.

"You weren't hiding from _me_ , were you?" Mike said carefully.

She shook her head.

"Who?" he asked softly. "Who is it?"

"At the bar," she whispered. "I remember him."

Paige pulled Jessie up onto her lap, the little girl keeping her face turned away from the bar.

"Which one?" Paige asked, trying to stop herself from looking over at the men.

"The blue hat," Jessie said. Her voice got higher. "He used to come to my old house."

"Does he know you though?" Mike asked. He watched Jessie shake her head no.

"Should we just go...?" Charlie asked. "I'm ready for cake anyway."

"Do you want to go home?" Paige asked.

"Ok," Jessie said.

"Can you give Mike a birthday hug first?" Paige asked. Jessie didn't fight the smile that crept across her face as she lunged her arms at Mike, quickly putting her head down on his shoulder.

"I don't want to see him," Jessie said quietly into Mike's ear.

"Are we moving this party?" Jakes asked.

"Yep, we're boycotting The Drop," Mike said sarcastically. "Not enough cake around here."

They made it out to the boardwalk and the agents headed in the direction of Graceland, a path they had walked many times before.

"I have to go grab the car up the block," Mike said, Jessie still in his arms. "I'll meet you guys back at the house in a few."

The agents kept going, but Mike headed around the side of the building and walked the three blocks back to his car.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Mike asked Jessie.

"Not really," she said. "Is not everybody in jail?"

"Well, no," Mike said. "There were so many people who worked for Solano. They didn't even have everybody's real name... but, I want to talk to you about something else."

Mike put Jessie down and squatted on the sidewalk to be eye-level with her. "You know how even though all six of us love you and keep you safe, Paige is the one who is your guardian?"

Jessie nodded at him.

"Well, what would you think about me and Paige both being your guardians?" he asked, wanting to ask the bigger question in little pieces.

"Ok!" she said, getting some energy back.

"So, that would mean that me and Paige would... well, we would... I'd have to ask her to marry me."

"You would be a husband and wife together?!"

"If she wanted to," he said. "But you need to keep it a secret, ok? I'll need your help big time."

"And then you're my guardian too?" she asked. Mike took her hand and helped her get into the backseat of the car. "After we are married, yes." He didn't want to even bring up the concept of adoption yet, but his mind was racing as he got into the driver's seat and started the car.

He looked up into the rearview mirror and got Jessie's attention. "So you want to help me ask Paige? Not for a few weeks though, ok?"

Jessie smiled and clapped her hands together. "She's going to be so happy!"


	20. It's Today: Part 1

"It's today! It's today! It's right now!" Jessie screeched. She ran into Briggs' bedroom and jumped up onto the bed.

Briggs stood by his dresser, adjusting his tie.

"Shhhhh," he said to her. He couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. "I know it's today," he whispered. "Are you ready?"

"Mhmmm," Jessie said. She had climbed down off the bed and was now staring into the eyes of the Indian Buddha statue in front of his window. "We don't have to whisper though," Jessie said. She placed her hand on the top of the Buddha's head. "She's gone."

"She's coming back really soon," Briggs said. "You remember everything we told you to do, right?"

Jessie looked over to him and nodded. She moved over to a shelf and reorganized his sunglasses. "Paige is gonna love it."

Briggs picked a suit jacket out of the closet and took some time to finish getting ready for their at-home op.

He grabbed a watch off of the top of his trunk and the time caught his eye. "Where are you supposed to be?" he questioned. "It's 2 o'clock."

Jessie's eyes widened. "The driveway."

"The notes are in your pocket?"

"Yep! And the one with the gold star is for last!"

Jessie started to run for the door, but she stopped and pivoted back around when she heard Briggs clear his throat. "Good luck out there," he said. He was trying to be serious, but failed miserably, a smile creeping across his face.

"See you on the beach!" she said. She ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his legs for a quick hug and then dashed back out to the door and down the stairs.

The living room was spotless, and Jessie turned her head to check on the kitchen. "You look funny like that," Jessie said.

Johnny sat at the kitchen island in a black suit, eating a bowl of cereal.

His eyes widened. "You have the notes?" he asked her. Upon seeing her nod and flash a piece of paper at him, he pointed to the door. "Go!" he yelled, getting up himself.

"You leave now too!" she yelled back to him, running for the door.

Jessie sat down on the stoop outside and tried to be as patient as possible for Paige, watching the woman step out of the car and lock it.

"Oh, hello," Paige said, spotting Jessie sitting outside the house. "What are you doing out here?"

Jessie bit her lips and shrugged her shoulders.

"Is everything ok?" the woman asked her.

"I'm just-"

"Just what?"

"I'm just supposed to give you this," Jessie said. She stood up and reached into her pocket, pulling out a slip of paper with the number 1 on it.

Paige looked at her quizzically. "Who gave it to you? Someone at school?"

Jessie was silent and watched Paige take the note from her and open it.

"Nothing but love for the lady in white..." Paige read. She quickly looked back to Jessie. "WHO gave this to you?!"

Jessie didn't answer her at first.

"Did a stranger? But it's Briggs' handwriting," Paige said, mumbling the realization to herself.

"If you can't get it, the only thing I'm supposed to say is: 'Figure it out, P-Funk!'," Jessie said. She stood up and did her best Briggs impersonation, hoping that Paige would know what to do next.

Paige searched the rest of the small piece of scrap paper. "This is a clue?!"

Jessie nodded, smiling. "Do you know where to go yet?" Jessie whispered.

"Do you?!" Paige asked.

Jessie covered her mouth with both of her hands and shook her head back and forth.

"Nothing but love for the lady in white," Paige repeated, "from Paul?" She thought about it for a few more seconds and then gasped. "Come on," Paige said.

Jessie followed behind the woman and entered back into Graceland, happy to see that Johnny had now left the kitchen.

Paige climbed the stairs and entered into her own bedroom. She opened a drawer in her jewelry box and smiled. "I knew it," she whispered.

Laying on top of the jewelry was a card.

"What is it?" Jessie asked.

"You know how sometimes for my work I have to wear a white dress? Well, the very first time I had to do that, I was really scared, but Briggs gave me a pendant to remind me..."

Paige had taken the card out of the drawer and had started reading. She slowly backed up and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"What does it say?" Jessie asked.

"It's a beautiful letter..." Paige said, finishing the card, "about why he loves me at Graceland." She put her finger up to her eye to stop a tear from staining her cheek.

She quickly read it again and folded it back in half. "But why?" Paige asked herself, looking from the card back to Jessie.

Jessie hesitated and then reached back into her pocket, pulling out a paper that said: #2.

"There are more?" Paige asked, taking the clue from her.

She turned the paper over and read it aloud. "I know you know about the travel mug."

Paige smiled and Jessie was happy that she was catching on to the plan.

"Let's go check out the kitchen!" Paige said.

Jessie bounced out of the room and followed Paige down to the kitchen.

Paige checked under five different mugs and cups, but couldn't find a card. "Is there supposed to be another letter here?" Paige asked her.

Jessie climbed up onto a bar stool as Paige continued to fumble through the cabinet.

"Read it again," Jessie suggested.

Paige looked back at the clue, "I know you know about the travel mug... I know this is Johnny, but-"

The woman shut the cabinet door and turned around, a smirk on her face. "Oh, he means the secret travel mug..."

She crouched down and lifted the pots off of the bottom shelf under the island.

"Yes! I know about the secret travel mug, Johnny!" Paige screamed into the house, unsure of where everyone was hiding.

Just as she had thought, there was a mug there- and when Paige twisted off the cap, she found another folded card inside.

Before she opened it though, she looked back up to Jessie. "Are there going to be 3 more of these?" Paige asked, already feeling herself get emotional.

Jessie smiled and jumped down from the stool. She ran into the living room and dove onto the couch.

"You have to read it first," Jessie said, wrapping her arms around her knees. "Let me know when you're ready for #3."


	21. It's Today: Part 2

Paige sighed and brushed her hand across her face. "Oh, I don't know if I'm ready for three more of these," she said, her voice a higher pitch than usual. She turned and tilted her head at Jessie. "Am I going to cry?"

"I don't know," Jessie said, pushing herself off the cushions. "Maybe, but good crying." Jessie trotted over to Paige and wrapped her arms around the woman's leg. "Like when in court the judge said Graceland can keep me. You cried then, right?"

Paige reached down and lifted Jessie up onto her hip. She ran her hand through the little girl's hair. "Yeah, I was happy crying."

Jessie hesitated for a moment, but she then reached out and put her palm on Paige's cheek. "It's good to happy cry sometimes."

Paige could feel the lump in her throat growing. "You're making me want to happy cry right now," she said smiling. She put Jessie down and took the next note from her, opening it cautiously.

"I wasn't allowed to read this one," Jessie said shyly.

Paige read the note to herself and clasped her hand to her chest. A laugh escaped from Paige's mouth so loudly that Jessie jumped a little.

"What?" Jessie asked, pulling on the hem of Paige's shirt.

"Nope," Paige said shaking her head and folding up the note, "not for you."

"Do you know where to go?" Jessie asked.

"Yep. C'mon." Paige stuck out her hand and waited for Jessie to take hold before leading her back to the stairs.

They climbed up to the first floor and headed straight across the loft to Charlie's room. Paige knew the room was empty, but checked first anyway before walking through the space to the balcony.

Paige sat on the patio chair and reached into a potted plant, pulling out the stash of cigarettes that Charlie kept for especially stressful days. The box was empty though, and inside was another note that Paige took her time to read.

* * *

"There. She's there on the balcony." Johnny was standing on the beach, waiting for Paige to arrive at the scene of her third clue. He spoke into his watch so that the rest of his roommates could hear.

"She's standing back up," he said with an excited voice. "Mikey, I think we've got about ten more minutes..."

* * *

"Who are you waving at?" Paige asked, noticing Jessie peering off the balcony to the beach down below.

Jessie tucked her hand quickly back by her side. "Nobody," she said quickly. Paige's expression proved that she knew Jessie was lying.

"It was just BD," Jessie said, hiding her face from Paige.

Jessie jumped back into Charlie's room and led Paige away from the beach. Paige glanced at the beach one more time before following her inside, but she didn't recognize anyone down there, nor did she see BD.

They made it to the loft, and Jessie ran over to the couch in the nook next to the stairs.

"This one's going to be from Jakes, isn't it?" Paige asked. She sat next to Jessie and put her hand out for the fourth note, which Jessie shook excitedly in the air.

"I need to read it!" Paige said, laughing at her.

Jessie placed the note on Paige's palm and watched as she unfolded the paper, prepared to study it carefully.

It said: The only place where _real_ work gets done around here.

"Real work?" Paige asked aloud. "Am I supposed to go outside?"

Jessie shot up off the couch and launched herself across Paige's lap, preventing the woman from being able to stand.

"No!" Jessie yelled, kicking her feet up. "Not outside. Not yet!"

"Not yet?"

"Ummm," Jessie hummed. She pushed herself off of Paige's lap and landed her feet back down on the floor.

"Ohhh. I think I know," Paige said smiling. "Am I supposed to go to the phone room?"

Jessie bit her bottom lip and shrugged her shoulders, fighting back against a growing smile.

"C'mon," Paige said. Jessie followed behind her as they made their way to the third floor. When Paige opened the door to the phone room, she saw balloons tied to the chair in the far corner. Paige went over to the desk and pulled the chair back - a video was loaded onto the computer monitor.

"Jessie?" Paige asked.

Jessie was standing frozen, barely outside of the doorway, her hands pushing against the molding of the door frame on either side of her. The little girl shook her head back and forth. "Only if someone is in trouble or I am told to go inside," she said aloud like a monotone recording.

"You are... correct," Paige said. She chuckled under her breath. "Such a mini Mike," she mumbled.

Paige clicked play on the video and smiled as a close-up of Jakes was revealed, sitting down by the pier at the beach. "I don't write love notes, P," he said. "But I've sat through hours of video footage for you in this chair and now you're going to watch a video for me... of me. You have pulled some absolutely ridiculous, badass stunts. I've watched you jump people three times your size, take down gunmen, plot tactical - but this year, P. This year I watched you fall in love. Twice."

Jakes took the sunglasses that had been hooked onto the front of his shirt and put them on properly, covering his eyes. "You're an amazing mom, Paige. I respect the shit out of you. But now..." Jakes stood up and spun the camera around to show the bonfire circle. "Now you need to come meet me down here. Ok?"

The video cut off and Paige looked over to Jessie, who was now seated in the doorway.

"Are you ready now?" Jessie asked, jumping up onto her feet. She bounced on her heels waiting for Paige to come back out of the phone room. "We have to do a lot of stairs!" Jessie announced.

Paige was laughing at her. "So the next note is by the bonfire?"

"Noooo," Jessie said. "You'll see!" They started to make their way down the flights of stairs.

"But I didn't get a note from Mike," Paige reminded her. "There's another note in your pocket... I can see it, Jessie."

Jessie slapped her hand to her pocket, afraid that Paige was going to try and take it. "You're wrong," Jessie said.

She ran ahead of Paige and led her down to the laundry room. She pushed open the door to the beach with all her might and felt Paige closing in right behind her.

Paige halted when she saw the scene on the beach.

Charlie, Briggs, Johnny and Jakes stood in a row, all wearing formal attire. Paige put her arm out to take hold of Jessie's hand, but the little girl was already running across the sand to her roommates.

Paige looked around the beach as she jogged over to them, searching for the person she knew had put all of this into play.

She couldn't spot him anywhere.

"You found us," Johnny said, kissing Paige on the cheek and pulling her into an embrace.

Paige was speechless. She went down the line and thanked each of them for what they had done, but they could tell she knew it wasn't quite over.

Briggs squatted and whispered something in Jessie's ear.

"Now I can do it!" Jessie said to Paige. She reached in her pocket and took out the note with the star on it. Jessie was laughing as Paige took it from her, but Briggs tapped the girl's shoulder and she jumped to attention.

Paige unfolded the note, written in Jessie's block handwriting.

"Turn around?" Paige read. She paused. "Turn around," she repeated quietly to herself.

She shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and then slowly pivoted.

Mike Warren, one knee in the sand, stared up at Paige with the biggest, bluest eyes he could muster.

Paige gasped and covered her mouth.

"Paige Arkin..."

Charlie, Johnny and Jakes were already running back up to Graceland. Briggs scooped Jessie into his arms. "But I wanna stay," she whined. Briggs didn't answer her and jogged away from Paige and Mike. "Mikey needs some privacy," Briggs told her. When they got far enough away, they turned back to watch their housemates.

"What is Mikey saying now?" Jessie asked.

"He's telling her how much he loves her," Johnny said.

"And how much he wants to spend the rest of his life with her," Jakes added.

"And how me and Paige and Mike are going to be a family together for real?" Jessie asked. She lay her head down on Briggs' shoulder, watching Paige and Mike in the distance.

Charlie laughed at her remark. "Something like that too," she said.

They saw Mike reach into his pocket. "He's doing it!" Jessie told them.

"Shhh," Briggs said to her softly, "we see it; we see it."

They held their breaths, silent as Paige stood up.

But when Paige leaped at Mike, threw her arms behind his neck, and lifted her feet off the ground as Mike spun them in circles? That's when they screamed.

The agents cheered as they ran over to Mike and Paige, who were now frozen in a kiss.

"Did we do it?!" Jessie yelled.

Mike broke away from Paige and stared into her eyes before reaching out for Jessie. He tossed her up in the air before pulling her into a hug. "Yeah, we did it, Jess. Best operation you've ever taken lead on."

"Are we married now?" she asked, looking over to Paige.

"Not quite yet," Paige said, wiping tears away from her eyes, incapable of removing the smile from her face.

"See? You did cry happy tears!" Jessie said.

Paige nodded and tried to regain control of her face.

"Let me see it!" Charlie said, reaching for Paige's hand. "Oh, Paige. The ring is stunning."

"Ok Jessie, say goodbye," Briggs said. The little girl complied and threw her arms around Mike in a hug.

"Bye?" Paige asked, confused.

Johnny laughed. "You think we want you in this house tonight? You have dinner reservations in two hours downtown and a suite at the Omni. You can thank us later."

"Thank you," Mike said with a smirk. He put Jessie down on the sand and then looked up to Paige. "I think we need to go pack a bag..." He reached out for Paige's hand to lead her up to the house. The rest of them couldn't help but stare, watching as they made their way back up to Graceland.

"So... when did you know?" Jakes asked his remaining housemates.

"That night at the- the warehouse. When we got P back," Briggs said. "Mikey was a new person."

"Nahhh," Charlie said. "Karaoke. He cheated on me with his eyes the minute he saw her singing up on that stage."

"Oh, I can win this game," Johnny said, putting his hands behind his head. "None of you share a wall with them..."

"Can we have a bonfire tonight?" Jessie asked them, trying to revert the conversation back to something she understood.

"Sure," Briggs said. "C'mon, let's go back inside." Jessie walked between Briggs and Charlie, holding hands with both of them as they all walked. The little girl eyed them, looking back and forth between the agents.

"Briggs?" Jessie asked.

"What?"

"When are you going to make a scavenger hunt for Charlie?"

Briggs, Charlie, Johnny and Jakes froze.

"Me and Briggs aren't going to-" Charlie said, stopping herself.

"What about me?" Jessie asked. "Will I have a scavenger hunt and a ring on the beach?"

"No," Briggs and Johnny said curtly.

Jakes raised his eyebrows at her. "We'll talk about it later... like when you're 50."

Johnny and Jakes chased Jessie up the stairs to the main floor of Graceland, but Briggs stopped Charlie from following them.

"Hey," he said, taking hold of her wrist.

"What?"

"This." Briggs brought Charlie toward him, closed his eyes, and kissed her.

They held onto each other in the silence.

"You think the boys can babysit for the night?" Charlie whispered to him.

"Yes. Yes, I do."


	22. Puppy Love

Jakes pulled into the driveway at Graceland and immediately tried to hide his smile. He looked up at the rearview mirror to make eye-contact with Jessie, who sat in the back seat of the car with her arms folded across her chest.

"We are telling them," Jakes said.

"No, we are not telling them," she rebutted.

"Ok, ok... _we_ aren't telling them," he said. "YOU will tell them."

Jakes got out of the car and opened up the rear door so she could scoot out.

"But why do they even need to know?" Jessie asked. "It's not a big deal or anything."

Jakes laughed to himself. "Oh, trust me kid. They will think it's a very big deal."

He grabbed her backpack and carried it inside for her, Jessie trailing behind him.

Jakes walked through the living room to find Johnny and Briggs filling out paperwork at the dining table.

"Hey, DJ," Briggs said. He waved over to him without looking up from the table.

Jessie tried to sneak up to the stairs behind Jakes, but Jakes knew exactly where she was headed.

"Nope," he said, pointing over to her, "go sit on the couch. You're not going anywhere."

"Ohhhhh, somebody's in trouble..." Johnny said in a high pitched, sing-song voice. "What did you do, Jess?"

"Nothing!" she yelled over to him. "Jakes is just..." She didn't know how to finish the sentence without getting in more trouble.

"You're not in _trouble_ trouble," Jakes said. "Where's P?"

"Upstairs I think," Briggs said. "Mike should be back soon too."

Johnny pointed directly up to the ceiling. "Charlie's still in-"

"In San Francisco," Jakes finished. "Yeah, I know. And it's a good thing she didn't do the pick-up today."

"It's not a big deal!" Jessie yelled again, sitting anxiously on the couch.

"What's going on?" Paige made her way down the stairs to the living room. She directed her attention to Jessie. "What's not a big deal?"

Jakes sat on the opposite end of the couch. "Briggs, Johnny, you're going to want to hear this," he said. "Jessie, what happened when I picked you up from school today?"

Jessie pursed her lips and thought carefully about how she would phrase her response. "Well, I stand outside in the line like everyday, and I saw your car, and I got in it, and we came home."

"Funny," Jakes said. He stood up and paced as if he were talking to a suspect. "Ok, you want to be questioned? Fine. Who were you talking to when I pulled up to school?"

"A friend."

"Is this friend a girl?"

"...No. But you have friends who aren't boys!"

Now Jakes had Briggs and Johnny's attention. They both got up from the table and walked over to the couch.

"You can have friends who are boys," Jakes said. "But besides from talking, what else were you doing, hmmm?" Jakes asked.

Jessie looked down at her feet. "Holding hands," she mumbled.

"Oh, yeah?" Johnny asked. "What's his name?"

Jessie remained silent.

"I think I know," Paige said, a big smile plastered across her face. "It was Matty, wasn't it?"

They watched as Jessie nodded her head.

"And you know," Jakes said, "holding hands is not even a big deal. I get this whole buddy system, blah blah blah. But when you let go of his hand today, what did he do?"

"I didn't tell him to do it!" Jessie yelled.

"Do what?" Briggs asked.

"Tell them," Jakes said.

"He... he kissed me," Jessie said.

"Oh, hell no," Johnny said.

Paige bit her lips so she wouldn't laugh.

Jessie looked up to Johnny. "Not like how _you_ kiss girls," she said. "Just like... littler."

Paige couldn't hold back her laughter.

"That's it," Briggs said, "we're homeschooling."

"We don't have time for that," Paige said through her laughs.

"What's so funny?" Jessie asked.

"Nothing," Paige said, doing a terrible job of holding it together.

Briggs redirected Jessie's attention. "Tomorrow. You will walk up to... to Matty. And you will tell him that if he ever touches you again, he will be in... in big trouble."

Jessie sighed. "Ok," she said. "I will tell him."

The front door opened and the agents turned to see Mike walk into the foyer. He looked over to them with a puzzled expression. "What's going on?"

"Jessie had her first kiss," Jakes said.

"Oh," Mike said, clearly not listening to what Jakes had actually said. He walked over to the staircase, but froze when his foot reached the first step. "Wait - she what?!"

"And there it is," Briggs said.

"How did we let this happen?" Mike asked.

"Guys," Paige said. "It's fine." She reached her hand out to Jessie, who gratefully took the cue to get off the couch. They walked upstairs together, leaving the boys still processing what Jessie had said.

"So..." Mike said. "All girls school next year?"

"Yep," Jakes said.

"That works," Briggs added.

"Indefinitely," Johnny said.

The four of them stood there in silence, not sure what to do next.

"But like Mikey," Johnny said. "How old were you the first time you kissed a girl?"

"I was... five."

"Me too," Jakes said.

Briggs smiled. "Yep."


End file.
